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Re: [Phys-l] what to do with inherited mess



Hi Kyle

WCM and JD have given some great suggestions. Here are some things to
think about that might make resurrecting your magnets a little bit
easier.

Do you still have the original (non-functioning) power supply in order
to find out the power requirements? That info might also be on the
magnets themselves (look near the power connections). Some vendors
for replacement bipolar electromagnet power supplies are Walker LDJ
Scientific and Lakeshore Cryotronic (there are likely many other
vendors out there, but I happen to know these two). For many
potential uses of your electromagnet, you might not need a bipolar
supply (which adds a lot to the $); I have a unipolar (is that the
right word?) power supply and if I need the field to point in the
other direction, I just reverse the connections (I had a student build
a switching system that could be computer controlled - note that I
never switch the connections while the systems is energized! but only
when going through zero field/zero current).

The most economical gaussmeter I've found is from AlphaLab
Electromagnetic Instruments (up to 2 T, < $400); I don't know if your
magnet will get to higher than 2 T.

Make sure you put a filter on your input water line!

Other experiments you can do at the junior level include: NMR/ESR and
Hall Effect have been mentioned; Faraday/Kerr effect; build a VSM
(vibrating sample magnetometer) for magnetic characterization,
magnetoresistance experiments (particularly interesting with this
year's Nobel).

Good luck!

-Krishna (fond of electromagnets, and hope your two come back to a
long, fruitful life!)

On Nov 28, 2007 8:53 AM, kyle forinash <kforinas@ius.edu> wrote:
Hi all;

Through a long chain of circumstances our (very small; two people)
department ended up with two sets of very large electro magnets and very
old (25+ years) electronics intended to do ENDOR (Electron-Nuclear
DOuble Resonance) experiments. The person who contributed this equipment
got as far as getting water and 220V lines into the room and figuring
out the power supply for the magnet no longer functions before he go
himself fired (for other reasons). We have no grad students, do not have
even an undergrad major in physics (although we have a junior level lab
course) and I am pretty much all thumbs in the lab except for relatively
simple things.
My questions are:
1) Does anyone have any idea what kind of time and money resources would
be required to get this up and running for a student lab (or is this way
beyond what could be done in a junior lab even if it were working)?
2) What are my options here, short of hiring someone who knows what they
are doing and has a large budget to replace equipment? Are there simple
experiments that can be done with these large magnets (I'm not even sure
how big they are but the former owner said they cost on the order of
$40k each)?

I'm really clueless what to do with this stuff (and it is taking up a
lot of room).

Thanks for any advice.

kyle
--
------------------------------------------
'Violence is the last refuge of the
incompetent.'
Issac Asimov

kyle forinash 812-941-2039
kforinas@ius.edu
http://Physics.ius.edu/
-----------------------------------------
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--
regards
-Krishna

Krishna Chowdary
Faculty Member, Physics
The Evergreen State College