Andrew McCalip Profile picture
Jul 27, 2023 7 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Meissner effect or bust. Day 1.

Made good progress on the list of to-dos. I'm doing this all after-hours,  so it's been a long day. Since we're gated by the delivery of the PbO + Pb(SO4), which should be tomorrow, we're working on infrastructure first. Image
Getting the DAQ set up. Will do multi channel thermocouple probes in furnace to ensure best control. We verified 930°C with our small 6"x6"x6" furnace. All data logged to Influx so we can verify ramp rates.
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We're taking over the deep storage corner of the warehouse. Some other hobbies are visible in the background. Still trying to get Elon to send it up on Starship.

Our TVAC chamber (Sucky McSuckFace) will provide the 1e-5torr vacuum source we need. Dry multistage roots + turbo.
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We need to practice one of the critical steps, vacuum sealed quartz tubes. I've done tons of glass working, but never in quartz. It took a bit of tuning, but we achieved a fairly nice tube end after a few tries. This will be tight well below 1e-5torr.


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Sealing one end of the quartz tube.
Thomas working the torch. We grabbed the weldment rotary table positioner and turned it into a tubing fixture. It's quite nice to have the pedal control to flip the tube over. We're amateurs, but this feels like it could work.
I absolutely, positively love the reaction that Twitter has had to LK99. Never seen anything so positively received on Twitter. If this can be replicated, the authors will be the next Einstein or Bohr. I hope I can help play a small part in moving humanity forward.

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More from @andrewmccalip

Jul 26
We’re going to circumnavigate the world with a droneship

Andrew’s next hobby project is here.

The goal is to complete an around the world ocean trip, autonomously navigating 25,000 miles over the course of one year. The droneship will be streaming to X live via Starlink through the whole journey.

Will it work? Who knows. Do we have a specific goal? Not really. We're just here for the grand adventure and the inevitable memes.Projectbob.xyzImage
Why??

Insatiable curiosity, or just poor impulse control? Honestly, building stuff is fun. I like to wade into the deep end of subjects I’m not qualified for and come out the other side with a story and a new skill.

A lot of things inspired this idea. For my day job, I build spacecraft + satellites which orbit the earth. When I watched our reentry footage (), it was a conscious altering thing to watch the camera film all the way from orbit to sitting on the desert floor. It just puts things in perspective, that we live on this giant but ultimately tiny blue marble. To have hardware in my hand that went on a journey around the entire control volume that we as humans occupy, that’s special.

Wired had a hilarious quote in their LK99 interview, which I have come to like. “McCalip preferred not to dwell, but instead chose to focus on what he had set out to do: making the thing”.

So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to build the thing.

I’m reminded of that intro to the movie Primer.

“…They took from their surroundings what was needed... and made of it something more…”Image
Read 22 tweets
Apr 20
I built a thing to fulfill a meme.

Bluetooth smooth scrolling wheel.

Please don’t buy one. I can’t make very many. But if you must…. doomscroller.xyz
How did we get here?

I’ve been mildly interested in doing a haptics / input device for years. While doing some dingboard edits on the Rabbit R1 a few months ago, this one came to mind.

How hard could it be???Image
Requirement check

Bruey is going to give me a hard time if I don’t capture requirements on a project, even if it’s a hobby.

• Communicate via Bluetooth.
• Compatible with Android, PC minimum. iOS optional.
• No drivers needed, must work out of the box.
• No perceivable lagging/stuttering/chunking on scroll
• >10hr battery life and 14 day standby time
• >15 second free spin time on bearings
• >6ft radio range
• Must be prototyped under $500
• Must work with Twitter, Instagram, TikTok
• Must be easily operated one-handed
• Ergonomics must not suck
• Aesthetics must not suckImage
Read 29 tweets
Aug 4, 2023
Meissner effect or bust: Day 8

TLDR: I’m cracking open the first LK99 sample about 11pm PDT. I’ll be posting pictures and videos as we go. Probably not live, but nearly live. https://t.co/NTJo5rBgBGtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
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I’m also opening up a public spreadsheet for organizations to sign up for samples. My part of this epic journey ends at the production of the Rocks. Now we need to get the Rocks into the hands of the scientists to characterize and evaluate them.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
Today the Poland batch of Copper Phosphide finally arrived after its long journey. Material looked good. We reduced this to a fine powder in a mortar/pestle. Looks clumpy, but in reality it’s about the fineness of talcum powder.

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Read 13 tweets
Jul 28, 2023
Meissner effect or bust. Day 2

An absolute emotional rollercoaster. We've been back so many times, I've lost count

The first reaction to make Lanarkite (PbO + PbSO4) is running in the furnace! We opted to do 80% in an open air alumina crucible and 20% in a sealed quartz tube Image
PbO + PbSO4 from Sigma. Thanks for the fast shipping! Image
Take it to a very fine powder. A little bit of clumping.


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Read 11 tweets

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