Regarding the Mercury since shooting this video have got a mercury spill kit as well as the sulphur powder mentioned in the video, risk assessment updated accordingly and also an external lock to the box. having spoke to people with experience with museum installations this was what was recommended.
I'm sure it will be safe given the steps you've made to keep it safe. To put it into perspective, I visited a lighthouse here in Australia where the rotating light assembly which was perhaps 3 or 4 metres diameter was actually floating on a bed of mercury, you could push this thing about easily even though it weighed tonnes. The lighthouse keeper would have to top it up from a flagon of mercury from time to time as it gradually evaporated. The keeper lived in the lighthouse for months at a time... 😯
It's nice to see more of the electromechanical stuff in the museum. I think it would be cooler to clock this at its intended rate but stick a pin in every 15 or 30 minutes. You could have it trigger something quieter than a bell, such as a blue spinner (like you get on emergency vehicles).
0:51 and not forgetting church bells; electric carillons ringing hours and services are quite commonplace (at least much more nowadays than paid vergers or bell-ringers). 🤗 Anyway, this specific model with its "time-out" on Saturdays and Sundays was probably devoted to a workshop or factory...
Museum of steam at Kew has mercury arc rectifiers. Those would be a much bigger deal if they were broken, so they probably know what the proper safety regime is. Don't forget that boring old fluorescent tubes have mercury vapour in them and nobody worries much about them. When I was at school (~45 years ago) we used to clean mercury in the physics lab by squeezing it through chamois leather. Also .. YOU need a mercury arc rectifier. Fabulous things. See photonic induction's recent demo.
My dad was a school keeper in the 70s and we had one of these to generate the pips that went off very 40 minutes , I never knew what did the biz to generate the pulses. My dad would skank with it for the British summer time changes. The school was an amazing playground, they had a EMS synthi A suitcase synthesiser in the music department. I knew where everything was stashed and I used to borrow it on the weekend and holidays to play with. Leak sandwich speakers, Leak amps, all manner of stuff to use during the holidays, very naughty 70’s ILEA school stuff
Master clock are also use in hospital to make sure patient get correct dosage of medicine on right time as well. They very critical item in hospital in the operating theatres and delivery suits.
Those pins would be pretty simple to machine in moderate quantities, and look a lot nicer than just using a screw. I'm sure someone would be willing to give it a go. (Me. I'm talking about me.)
Basically the same as, how we call It in Italy, the quartz system It's an analog mechanical programmer for church bells made from the late 60s to the late 80s (The belltower in my profile picture still has a quartz system at the bottom of it)
Actually worked at a place from the very early 2000's to 06 that still had a master clock and 3 of those bell ringer jobers. The master clock also sent it's pulse to the clocking in punch machines. You should get the whole set up and get people to clock in and out of the museum😎 also the punched cards were processed somehow and that was how you got paid. Over 3 mins late and you lost that hour. Keep a jar of sulphur around. If you do have a mercury spill get the sulphur on it.
I specifically remember a modern type of this system in my high school. teachers would love take apart the clocks to try and set them by pressing the solenoid but maintenance would get pissy having to reset them because that was supposed to happen at the office. only being able to go in one direction, maintenance had to press the solenoid a bunch of time to bring it back around. (a side note; the actuation signal was like 1.5 seconds)
I think it would be fun if it was slower? Maybe just as something you have to watch for a little bit. Maybe the fastest speed being where it starts to work semi-properly with the mercury switch? Either way super cool vid love all these new ones.
I don't know how you make so much stuff and videos in so little time, do you have an army of clones or are you slowing down time with one of the weird museum artifacts??? ;)
1950s British-made means those pins could be Whitworth form (BSF) or BA threads which might catch you out. Synchronome are still in operation - they might be able to help you.
I have a giant firebell from an abandoned mental asylum that would be awesome to trigger with this... although, it would constantly terrify anyone in the museum!
That's pretty fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing; the company I worked for last before I became disabled was called "Traditions" and I believe they used one of those on our punch machines because they were all still mechanical based. But I can't be certain.
That tilt-switch is indeed "mad"... but I kinda dig the idea that they had an electrical engineer design the majority of it, and could've easily solved the 8-second pulse problem, too, but then they were like "yahknow, our glass-blower needs to shine... let's see if they can solve this"
Wow I had to look after one of those in a school, not far from where it was made. Several times I had to re-program it. I was actually the chief lab tech. I also had to deal with a large mercury spill, a lot more mercury than you have there, which was round the heating pipes. I ended up with acute mercury poisoning. I was on 100% oxygen for 24 hours, and off work for a week. You could see the mercury in my lungs on an X-ray. Your spillage kit would be better if the sulphur was mixed with calcium hydroxide.
The mercury in those switches is metallic (not organic), you can actually hold that in your hand safely, metallic mercury is dangerous if heated (mercury vapour) I used to work (as a sparky) in a lab environment, afaik their spillage kit was basically a syringe and a container, search for 'mercury spillage kit' there are a few about, even on amazon i wouldn't remove the switch. There were mercury switches in xerox protocopiers (i had loads of switches), they were glass but clear rubber coated. They use master clocks in exchanges, not just to drive wall clocks, but to set the timing for things like off peak metering etc.
I’ve got sulfur but maybe syringe would be good! Yeah gpo master clock is something I’m on the hunt for to drive the meters in the uax13 strowger rack, but haven’t found a cheap one yet! People are wanting like 300 quid for em, quite a bit of money! Hopefully one turns up one day for the right price :D. Looks really cool without the clock face those thingies
@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER Can confirm. What I would worry about the most would be putting heat on those like putting a strong spotlight. I guess that also includes putting lots of electric power through the switch. Otherwise it is not *that* dangerous.
You stated in the video you werent sure how long the pulse would activate the coils, from my knoledge here in the states, it would activate the coil 1 second within 60 seconds, these coils dont like to stay on very long I so heard since they will heat up a lot! Hope this helps!
Seems like it might be for something like church bells. The church near me growing up would change up their bell chimes every month or so and it would make a lot of sense for them to have used something like this
the threads look a similar size to the standoffs used in computers. perhaps they can be used, they even have a thread on top where a small round head screw could be mounted to smooth out the top. no custom parts and easily available.
Sam why not make a small bund (tray) under the clock. That way if the mercury escapes its contained. Could even add a circuit to show if its leaked through the mercury conductivity (level probe maybe) cheers mark m
Just a pair of bare wires at a certain height in the bund (or across the bottom of the bund), job done. Wire it up to a normally closed relay and kill power to the clock if the mercury makes the contact.
I think if the mercury switch is safely enclosed, she'll probably be allright. These master clocks would be ideal for schools. No messing about with clocks and kids taking advantage of it. The schools I went to all had individual clocks in the classrooms, so they could easily be tampered with by the students. These where all standard domestic clocks running on batteries. In a school, accurate time is important.
Sharpen the end of some ATX board standoffs they look very similar to those pegs, might need to just screw something into them to make them taller. I think my school used one of these. Just make sure that the box is locked so people can't access the mercury you should be fine.
That sounds like a very useful idea actually!!’n I wouldn’t know how to do it without a faff. I guess it’s pretty easy if you know what your doing proper style?
alas can't seem to find it! no comments seem to be held for review. if you could possible send the link via this??? there's a contact form www.lookmumnocomputer.com/donations thanks a lot!!! regarding the thermal relay, indeed there are a number of things to do turning it into a pulse to be honest If I was going to replace it id end up making it more useful and just using a resistor and capacitor to make a trigger converter. but I did the risk assessment even got a full mercury spill kit chatted to some peeps. overkill but gunna keep em in!
hey j3 finally got a chance to try the code! its real good! however 1 tad problem, because of the way its setup, the potentiometer does not update until the standby cycle is completed, which means if you twist the knob it waits till the end of the maximum delay time turn on and be adjustable if that make sense? so if someone twists the knob it might not actually turn on until a minute has passed and the standby cycle has completed. I tried to work through the solution this evening but I ran out of time, hopefully I get a moment tomorrow. thanks again!
@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE OOPS! I just updated the code, find it at the same place. I replaced the hard delays with another timer so it doesn't lock up the program. EDIT: also meant to say that I found a potentiometer so I got to test the new code.
the thread on those pins is unlikely to be anything modern (ie, not metric like pcb standoffs as someone else suggested, and possibly not imperial). they may be whitworth (used in meccano) threads, or BA (used in model trains, i think)
PC standoffs are either M3 or 5/32 UNC, I don't quite know why it evolved that way but hard drive screws are 5/32" and optical drive screws are M3. The easiest way to work out what they are is hold the thread up to a bolt or tap and see if the thread matches. They could be 2BA or something, a hobbyist machinist who makes model planes or trains can probably check it for you (and no doubt make some for you)
What's your advice to finding and buying and modifying enclosures? My 3D printer has been out of order for too long and I don't have the motivation to do the cad work for a camera enclosure.
It's a vintage item so I'd be inclined to leave it as it is until further knowledge arrives which you could probably get from your local council.... after a long trip thru they system.
He even had a leaky one, based on the drop that visibly escaped during filming when he tipped it, just a fleeting glimpse, but yeah it leaked, haha, the whole place would probably be declared lethal by modern snowflakes, karens, or millennials.
The mercury switches shouldn't be damaged by a spark, they were used in mains switches to contain sparks. I'm sure you've seen these, but Tim Hunkin's Secret Life of Components - Switches video shows some of them near the end - ruclips.net/video/bno0HeQfxrU/видео.html&ab_channel=timhunkin
sorry I said it wrong too much current I meant, causing a vapour pressure build up. apparently it happened in power places sometime but thats what I heard hearsay . cool will check that one! thought I watched all of times component vids I musta forgotten that bithaha
They sell clear plasti-dip. I assume you know what plasti-dip is, but if not, it is a rubber coating that is often used for tool handles and such...they even cover cars in it now. But anyway, you can coat the mercury switches it that stuff, it will make them more durable and keep the mercury inside, if the glass happens to break.
when the tilt speed of the mercury switches is cranked right up, the switches aren't working correctly. the mecury is not given enough time to cycle through the tube...........
Although the severity of ingestion or inhalation is high the likelihood is very low, keep it original. Have you done written risk assessments for the museum? The HSE website has risk assessment templates, if you fill them in it can be helpful to rationalise the risk and is evidence of the considerations you are obviously making: "As an employer, you're required by law to protect your employees, and others, from harm."
it would be a bit mad if we hadn't done any risk assessment and opened :). like most of the stuff, had to do it properly. would be a bit worrying if we didn't!!
@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE Absolutely, you are the creator of the IT'LL KILL YOU 5000 but it still would have surprised me if you hadn't dun 'em. We like our madness controlled to approximately 5000!
Arent these kind of "analog solutions" in this case much much smarter, and involving much more creativity and thinking than their modern day digital equivalent? I dont say digital solutions arent intelligent :D its just with these "simple things" that involve some serious engineering, so that this magic about the simple things get lost because the digital way is so much easier.
Another way to look at it is that digital things are way more complex, it is just that the complexity is hidden in the building blocks that are used by the people designing the end product. Designing a microcontroller is very complex, but the cost of that is shared by thousands of different products. As is the methods for fabricating those circuits.
Don't put LED's inside for lighting, better will be with LED floodlight or similar light projector on ceiling or opposite wall, pointing in bell programmers direction.. About mercury switches - leave these as is.. These are pretty cool old-school devices.. 👍😎
@THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING ELSE The unit should be fine as it was manufactured before the regulations came into effect . Farnell STILL SELL Mercury switches uk.farnell.com/c/sensors-transducers/sensors/tilt-switches/mercury-tilt-switches So, I dont think its such an issue . With it being in a museum I would show some due diligence and have a mercury or chemical spill clean up kit and a spill proceedure in place so if the authorities come for a nosy you can show you are responsible enough . No big deal. But yes, PLEASE DO keep the original switches in place . Hope this has helped .
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Regarding the Mercury since shooting this video have got a mercury spill kit as well as the sulphur powder mentioned in the video, risk assessment updated accordingly and also an external lock to the box. having spoke to people with experience with museum installations this was what was recommended.
btw cool video by the way!
I can confirm, I played with the hooting owl on Sunday and am not suffering from mercury poisoning (yet)
Don't you have thermal delay relays? maybe they make a 5 second one and you can make some sort of replacement for the mercury switch.
@@angst_ for which machine?
Assuming you're following COSHH guidelines..? But if not, COSHH is your friend.
I'm sure it will be safe given the steps you've made to keep it safe. To put it into perspective, I visited a lighthouse here in Australia where the rotating light assembly which was perhaps 3 or 4 metres diameter was actually floating on a bed of mercury, you could push this thing about easily even though it weighed tonnes. The lighthouse keeper would have to top it up from a flagon of mercury from time to time as it gradually evaporated. The keeper lived in the lighthouse for months at a time... 😯
It's nice to see more of the electromechanical stuff in the museum. I think it would be cooler to clock this at its intended rate but stick a pin in every 15 or 30 minutes. You could have it trigger something quieter than a bell, such as a blue spinner (like you get on emergency vehicles).
0:51 and not forgetting church bells; electric carillons ringing hours and services are quite commonplace (at least much more nowadays than paid vergers or bell-ringers). 🤗 Anyway, this specific model with its "time-out" on Saturdays and Sundays was probably devoted to a workshop or factory...
I have a church bell sequencer. Doing a vid soon much most einvolved intact.
Vid soon!
A lot can be said about the mindset of the men that made these things way back when electronics was more mechanical, i love this sorta stuff.
A simpler time, yet just as ingenious!
It is a musemum of vintage technologies so leave in place the mercury switch! 🙂
Museum of steam at Kew has mercury arc rectifiers. Those would be a much bigger deal if they were broken, so they probably know what the proper safety regime is. Don't forget that boring old fluorescent tubes have mercury vapour in them and nobody worries much about them.
When I was at school (~45 years ago) we used to clean mercury in the physics lab by squeezing it through chamois leather.
Also .. YOU need a mercury arc rectifier. Fabulous things. See photonic induction's recent demo.
that mercury switch is a highlight! I didn't know they existed. Maybe you could carefully encase in a clear epoxy so it never leak when it breaks
My dad was a school keeper in the 70s and we had one of these to generate the pips that went off very 40 minutes , I never knew what did the biz to generate the pulses. My dad would skank with it for the British summer time changes. The school was an amazing playground, they had a EMS synthi A suitcase synthesiser in the music department. I knew where everything was stashed and I used to borrow it on the weekend and holidays to play with. Leak sandwich speakers, Leak amps, all manner of stuff to use during the holidays, very naughty 70’s ILEA school stuff
Master clock are also use in hospital to make sure patient get correct dosage of medicine on right time as well. They very critical item in hospital in the operating theatres and delivery suits.
Those pins would be pretty simple to machine in moderate quantities, and look a lot nicer than just using a screw. I'm sure someone would be willing to give it a go. (Me. I'm talking about me.)
That is the most unusual mercury switch I have ever seen. Very cool!
Basically the same as, how we call It in Italy, the quartz system
It's an analog mechanical programmer for church bells made from the late 60s to the late 80s
(The belltower in my profile picture still has a quartz system at the bottom of it)
Actually worked at a place from the very early 2000's to 06 that still had a master clock and 3 of those bell ringer jobers. The master clock also sent it's pulse to the clocking in punch machines. You should get the whole set up and get people to clock in and out of the museum😎 also the punched cards were processed somehow and that was how you got paid. Over 3 mins late and you lost that hour.
Keep a jar of sulphur around. If you do have a mercury spill get the sulphur on it.
Hey thanks Matt!!! Cool yeah after that!!! And if you saw all good it was only a 3 second bit in the vid but I was waving about a bag of sulfar haha
I specifically remember a modern type of this system in my high school. teachers would love take apart the clocks to try and set them by pressing the solenoid but maintenance would get pissy having to reset them because that was supposed to happen at the office. only being able to go in one direction, maintenance had to press the solenoid a bunch of time to bring it back around. (a side note; the actuation signal was like 1.5 seconds)
Wow. I've been planning on making something exactly like this with an old turntable. Crazy to see it done 70+/- years ago.
I think it would be fun if it was slower? Maybe just as something you have to watch for a little bit. Maybe the fastest speed being where it starts to work semi-properly with the mercury switch? Either way super cool vid love all these new ones.
I don't know how you make so much stuff and videos in so little time, do you have an army of clones or are you slowing down time with one of the weird museum artifacts??? ;)
Haha I dunno tbh. It’s just me working away. It’s an evening thing sorting this out. Rest of the day I’m at my flat trying to write songs hahaha
1950s British-made means those pins could be Whitworth form (BSF) or BA threads which might catch you out. Synchronome are still in operation - they might be able to help you.
Keep the switches, they are cool, as long as they aren't broken and leaking and are untouchable then they should be fine?
With some sort of proximity sensor on the control box you could automatically give the sequencer a break when no one is around for a minute
I live in the states I hope I can come visit your museum one day, you have some super cool stuff!!
Thank you for the videos!
I remember, the joystick for my first C64 had mercury switches in it back in the early 80s.
Early 2000s Segway scooters had tiny mercury switches in them I believe.
The thermostat in my house still functions on a mercury switch. Amazon has no idea how warm or cold I am.
yeah! stick it to the man!
Gorgeous weekend-disabling mechanism for alarm!
I also didn't see this type of mercury switch!
I have a giant firebell from an abandoned mental asylum that would be awesome to trigger with this... although, it would constantly terrify anyone in the museum!
you could replace the mercury switches with a 555 pulse circuit, if you are concerned about health and safety risks
I absolutely love this machine!
That's pretty fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing; the company I worked for last before I became disabled was called "Traditions" and I believe they used one of those on our punch machines because they were all still mechanical based. But I can't be certain.
That tilt-switch is indeed "mad"... but I kinda dig the idea that they had an electrical engineer design the majority of it, and could've easily solved the 8-second pulse problem, too, but then they were like "yahknow, our glass-blower needs to shine... let's see if they can solve this"
Looks like it's base on the music box idea, but set to one trigger then multiple tines.
Wow I had to look after one of those in a school, not far from where it was made. Several times I had to re-program it. I was actually the chief lab tech. I also had to deal with a large mercury spill, a lot more mercury than you have there, which was round the heating pipes. I ended up with acute mercury poisoning. I was on 100% oxygen for 24 hours, and off work for a week. You could see the mercury in my lungs on an X-ray. Your spillage kit would be better if the sulphur was mixed with calcium hydroxide.
The mercury in those switches is metallic (not organic), you can actually hold that in your hand safely, metallic mercury is dangerous if heated (mercury vapour)
I used to work (as a sparky) in a lab environment, afaik their spillage kit was basically a syringe and a container, search for 'mercury spillage kit' there are a few about, even on amazon
i wouldn't remove the switch.
There were mercury switches in xerox protocopiers (i had loads of switches), they were glass but clear rubber coated.
They use master clocks in exchanges, not just to drive wall clocks, but to set the timing for things like off peak metering etc.
I’ve got sulfur but maybe syringe would be good! Yeah gpo master clock is something I’m on the hunt for to drive the meters in the uax13 strowger rack, but haven’t found a cheap one yet! People are wanting like 300 quid for em, quite a bit of money! Hopefully one turns up one day for the right price :D. Looks really cool without the clock face those thingies
@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER Can confirm. What I would worry about the most would be putting heat on those like putting a strong spotlight. I guess that also includes putting lots of electric power through the switch.
Otherwise it is not *that* dangerous.
You stated in the video you werent sure how long the pulse would activate the coils, from my knoledge here in the states, it would activate the coil 1 second within 60 seconds, these coils dont like to stay on very long I so heard since they will heat up a lot! Hope this helps!
Seems like it might be for something like church bells. The church near me growing up would change up their bell chimes every month or so and it would make a lot of sense for them to have used something like this
Church bell sequencer is a whole other beast entirely I have one and video to come!
@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER oh very cool! I'll keep an eye out for that one for sure. Cheers!
With the input for a synth clock signal I want to see this used to set off a drum sequence in one of your other machines.
the threads look a similar size to the standoffs used in computers.
perhaps they can be used, they even have a thread on top where a small round head screw could be mounted to smooth out the top.
no custom parts and easily available.
Sam why not make a small bund (tray) under the clock. That way if the mercury escapes its contained. Could even add a circuit to show if its leaked through the mercury conductivity (level probe maybe) cheers mark m
Just a pair of bare wires at a certain height in the bund (or across the bottom of the bund), job done. Wire it up to a normally closed relay and kill power to the clock if the mercury makes the contact.
haven't seen a mercury tilt switch since school
I've seen plenty of mucury items in other museums - so keep! Maybe put a new lock on the box.
Exactly, there are museums with running mercury rectifiers. No need to panic about some tiny switches.
That’s pretty amazing
Build small acrylic housing for the Mercury switches. it will be harder to smash and if you smash then most Mercury will be kept
Mercury switch it’s he most interesting thing. So keep it. You just can’t design new things for sale with Mercury AFAIK
I think if the mercury switch is safely enclosed, she'll probably be allright.
These master clocks would be ideal for schools. No messing about with clocks and kids taking advantage of it. The schools I went to all had individual clocks in the classrooms, so they could easily be tampered with by the students. These where all standard domestic clocks running on batteries. In a school, accurate time is important.
Cool Egg timer mercury switch.
Sharpen the end of some ATX board standoffs they look very similar to those pegs, might need to just screw something into them to make them taller.
I think my school used one of these. Just make sure that the box is locked so people can't access the mercury you should be fine.
"MERCURY INSIDE" sign would be great safety feature.
Sam, did you consider using PCB stand-offs as replacement pins? Should be able to spec ones that fit the threads and height of the stock ones…
You could have the arduino default back to the slow speed if the dial hasn't changed in a few minutes. I can write a sample bit of code if you want.
That sounds like a very useful idea actually!!’n I wouldn’t know how to do it without a faff. I guess it’s pretty easy if you know what your doing proper style?
@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER I tried to comment with a link to my code, but I think it might have been removed (spam?) I wrote you some arduino code.
alas can't seem to find it! no comments seem to be held for review. if you could possible send the link via this??? there's a contact form www.lookmumnocomputer.com/donations thanks a lot!!! regarding the thermal relay, indeed there are a number of things to do turning it into a pulse to be honest If I was going to replace it id end up making it more useful and just using a resistor and capacitor to make a trigger converter. but I did the risk assessment even got a full mercury spill kit chatted to some peeps. overkill but gunna keep em in!
hey j3 finally got a chance to try the code! its real good! however 1 tad problem, because of the way its setup, the potentiometer does not update until the standby cycle is completed, which means if you twist the knob it waits till the end of the maximum delay time turn on and be adjustable if that make sense? so if someone twists the knob it might not actually turn on until a minute has passed and the standby cycle has completed. I tried to work through the solution this evening but I ran out of time, hopefully I get a moment tomorrow. thanks again!
@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE OOPS! I just updated the code, find it at the same place. I replaced the hard delays with another timer so it doesn't lock up the program. EDIT: also meant to say that I found a potentiometer so I got to test the new code.
the thread on those pins is unlikely to be anything modern (ie, not metric like pcb standoffs as someone else suggested, and possibly not imperial). they may be whitworth (used in meccano) threads, or BA (used in model trains, i think)
aah whit worth interesting yeah they are not metric. meccano though interesting, they seem a smaller size to the mecanno I have seen though.
I actually thought of Meccano after initially thinking of standoffs.
PC standoffs are either M3 or 5/32 UNC, I don't quite know why it evolved that way but hard drive screws are 5/32" and optical drive screws are M3.
The easiest way to work out what they are is hold the thread up to a bolt or tap and see if the thread matches. They could be 2BA or something, a hobbyist machinist who makes model planes or trains can probably check it for you (and no doubt make some for you)
What's your advice to finding and buying and modifying enclosures?
My 3D printer has been out of order for too long and I don't have the motivation to do the cad work for a camera enclosure.
Mcmaster-Carr has headless shoulder screws. they might work. might have to taper the edges? search headless-alloy-steel-precision-shoulder-screws
iirc mcmaster-carr does not sell outside US and will lifetime ban anyone trying to be a middleman.
@@Stjaernljus I figured that might be the case. Thought maybe he could at least look at the mcmaster page to get the details.
It's a vintage item so I'd be inclined to leave it as it is until further knowledge arrives which you could probably get from your local council.... after a long trip thru they system.
really would ask Tim Hunkin about that. He's got a few mercury switches in his workshop.
He even had a leaky one, based on the drop that visibly escaped during filming when he tipped it, just a fleeting glimpse, but yeah it leaked, haha, the whole place would probably be declared lethal by modern snowflakes, karens, or millennials.
I cannot wait to get down to visit!
a motherboard standoff would prob work as a replacement for those pins, as long as the thread matched
The mercury switches shouldn't be damaged by a spark, they were used in mains switches to contain sparks. I'm sure you've seen these, but Tim Hunkin's Secret Life of Components - Switches video shows some of them near the end - ruclips.net/video/bno0HeQfxrU/видео.html&ab_channel=timhunkin
sorry I said it wrong too much current I meant, causing a vapour pressure build up. apparently it happened in power places sometime but thats what I heard hearsay . cool will check that one! thought I watched all of times component vids I musta forgotten that bithaha
5:00 What noise do the bells make again ? 😂
you should use a period appropriate lamp for the light
I think some standoff bolts for like a pcb would work for the pins on the dial.
They sell clear plasti-dip. I assume you know what plasti-dip is, but if not, it is a rubber coating that is often used for tool handles and such...they even cover cars in it now. But anyway, you can coat the mercury switches it that stuff, it will make them more durable and keep the mercury inside, if the glass happens to break.
definitely take the peg/clock out and trigger a sample somehow.
Just wonder if maybe circuit board standoffs might work as pins. Probably to big though.
*too big
I’ve got I mercury switch took it out of something when I was 15 still got it now and I’m 45 .It’s yours if you ever need it for a project 👍👍
when the tilt speed of the mercury switches is cranked right up, the switches aren't working correctly. the mecury is not given enough time to cycle through the tube...........
I have some mercury time switches to fit that machine there cool and heavy
The old Moog there, looking like it's about to be crushed!!
Does the bell on the phone mounted next to it work? If so, you could wire it into that.
Yep!
mercury switches, that's insane
Would the motor your not using be a clock motor that turns slowly based on the 50hz mains power?
Yes but it was done in such a way the coils were on for most of the time
Fantastic!
You need a 6 phase mercury transformer
Surely Colin Furze could knock you up some new pins for it?
Although the severity of ingestion or inhalation is high the likelihood is very low, keep it original. Have you done written risk assessments for the museum? The HSE website has risk assessment templates, if you fill them in it can be helpful to rationalise the risk and is evidence of the considerations you are obviously making: "As an employer, you're required by law to protect your employees, and others, from harm."
it would be a bit mad if we hadn't done any risk assessment and opened :). like most of the stuff, had to do it properly. would be a bit worrying if we didn't!!
@@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE Absolutely, you are the creator of the IT'LL KILL YOU 5000 but it still would have surprised me if you hadn't dun 'em. We like our madness controlled to approximately 5000!
@@ches74 hahaha that is a fair point :D
Usually to be found in schools. Gents made a slightly better known one.
Control the bell sequencer with the relay sequencer!
I'm sure the mercury switches are fine. They're out of reach. I think keep them for historical value.
"it's for programming bells, dingidingidingiding..."
Leave the mercury switch in. It's out of reach anyway and it keeps it authentic.
Arent these kind of "analog solutions" in this case much much smarter, and involving much more creativity and thinking than their modern day digital equivalent? I dont say digital solutions arent intelligent :D its just with these "simple things" that involve some serious engineering, so that this magic about the simple things get lost because the digital way is so much easier.
Another way to look at it is that digital things are way more complex, it is just that the complexity is hidden in the building blocks that are used by the people designing the end product. Designing a microcontroller is very complex, but the cost of that is shared by thousands of different products. As is the methods for fabricating those circuits.
Hello! Maybe you can 3Dprint those pins
you should have just called the museum "this, that & the other" :D
Haha it is indeed a lot of that!
For the pins:
Perhaps some motherboard standoffs with a round screw in them will do the trick.
Keep it original much as possible. You should be fine because it's a museum.
Don't put LED's inside for lighting, better will be with LED floodlight or similar light projector on ceiling or opposite wall, pointing in bell programmers direction..
About mercury switches - leave these as is.. These are pretty cool old-school devices.. 👍😎
but it has a reflective glass on the front hence led inside, on the bottom of the cabinet so not visible.
Keep the Mercury switches
@THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING ELSE The unit should be fine as it was manufactured before the regulations came into effect . Farnell STILL SELL Mercury switches uk.farnell.com/c/sensors-transducers/sensors/tilt-switches/mercury-tilt-switches
So, I dont think its such an issue . With it being in a museum I would show some due diligence and have a mercury or chemical spill clean up kit and a spill proceedure in place so if the authorities come for a nosy you can show you are responsible enough . No big deal. But yes, PLEASE DO keep the original switches in place . Hope this has helped .
I hope Ben Heck watches, just for your impersonation
Don't think there is any point having go quicker than the mercury switch empties.
friggin' neat eh!
quick2make slow2break is just sawtooth :))) and reverse
Aren't those swithes both NO?
Yeah they are. Hence I added an annotation
You look at that mercury switch and wonder what these people were smoking. Mercury, possibly.
Some engineer was doing a weird flex - and they are a hero =) ..also probably on drugs.
1645 is likely to mean 16th week of 1945
you broke the Moog Grandmother?
Not that I know of :D
@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER well, the pitchbender looks somewhere bended in the video.
Someone sample 5:03 :o)....
Bells ring.
5/4 rythm
I'm trippin and this made it trippier
Keeeep it