DIY

Hi

I'm interested in building my own solar panels mostly for educational purposes. The idea is to use individual solar cells and solder 36 of them in series to get about 18V open circuit voltage. It's what commercial solar panels have as well so its easier to integrate later.

The cells are bonded to the substrate using optically clear silicone or EVA. Not sure which is better. Polyurethane is not good because the mere mention of humidity will cause tons of bubbles.

As for the substrate. Optically clear tempered glass is prohibitively expensive unless bought in bulk. Normal glass is significantly cheaper but could that be a safety hazard? I seriously doubt that thermal shocks are strong enough to break glass sheets unless cold rain falls on it.

Has anyone tried plexiglass/acrylic? It's UV resistant but could bend/warp at higher temperatures breaking the cells.

Perhaps using screen protectors for obsolete phones/tablets could work as well. It's really thin and strong but I don't know it holds up in a hailstorm.

Would love to hear from your experiences in DIY solar panels.

cross-posted from: https://jorts.horse/users/fathermcgruder/statuses/110789232582943740

What's a good torque wrench to get?

I want to replace the spark plugs in my car and I'm apparently going to have to torque them to 30Nm. #diy #tools

@tools

I love this person and everything they do.

Here's his take on the latest project, in this video:

This year I attended an art workshop on publishing and print-making. The goal was to make an art book, with total freedom of form and design. Here is "unrolling", my take on the (broad) concept of a book, with scrolls, spools and rolls.

IMHO way too big to be usable, but it is an interesting experiment of what can be done with off-the-shelf components.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/814898

All photos

youtube: Cuban Ingenuity

youtube: Cuba's DIY Inventions from 30 Years of Isolation

We drink a lot of milk and I have been collecting these bricks with the idea that there would be a usable function like isolation. But I slowly come back from that plan. the plastic inside will breakdown after a while I would think and there is no structural support of these packages. If I keep it empty, mice can nestle in it and filling with foam prevents from curing...

I am a bit out of ideas. Now i am thinking of using as insulation but then as a flat package. It will require only more milk drinking though 😅. maybe you have some ideas to reuse these cartons?

While there are a lot of exciting electric vehicles finally coming to market, many of us feel nostalgic for the fossil cars of our youth. [Mihir Vardhan] restored his grandfather’s car with an unusual gas-to-EV conversion.

While this conversion starts in the usual fashion by pulling out the gas engine, [Vardhan] takes a different tack than most by not just bolting an electric motor up to the transmission. Instead, he and his crew removed the head and pistons from the petrol burner and bolted the electric motor to the top on an L-shaped bracket. Using the timing belt to transfer power to the crankshaft, there is no need to figure out additional motors for the A/C compressor or power steering pump, greatly simplifying implementation.

This channel is sharing some impressive DIYs. They got great content. However I’m still saving up just so I can build this hydrogen powered engine. Also, easy-green hydrogen is potentially right around the corner now with metal hydrides and CFEs giving a new significant competitive advantage.

Looked pretty easy on YT, just looking for a second opinion. The pessimist in me is worried what might happen if the groove I cut the the brickwork to install it into is not straight enough. What else could go wrong?

I've been saving glass bottles and jars to recycle into utensil containers, paint rinse cups, vases, candle holders, windchimes and whatever else. At this point i could break half of them and still have plenty. I have a glass bottle cutter and the stuff to sand down the cut rims afterward. (I read somewhere that the sanded rims are fragile and it's best to heat the glass rim with a propane torch, but i dunno if i'm up for that.)

I'm thinking about how to turn these plain containers into nicer items, ideally so i can keep saving my bottles and recycling them into gifts. I've read about engraving glass with a rotary tool (which i own, with plenty of diamond bits, and i've engraved on metal), and the only other thing i know of would be using armor etch, but i'd have to hand cut the stencils and it sounds tedious and messy.

I don't know how concerned i should be about the glass shattering as i am engraving. I have glass cutting oil, or do i need to rig up some kind of tub with a water drip to engrave in? I know glass dust is a problem, too. I've waited until summer to start this project so i can work outside, at least until i get the feel for it.

Has anyone engraved on glass or done a similar decorative project with recycled bottles and jars? Or just a project with cut down containers? How'd it go? What did you make?

https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/p/offgridinternet

It helps to have your name permanently engraved on valuable tools, but engraving is difficult. Rob shows an easy and inexpensive way to label your steel tools permanently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curiosity_Show

The Curiosity Show is an Australian educational children's television show produced from 1972 to 1990 and hosted by Rob Morrison and Deane Hutton. The show was produced by Banksia Productions in South Australia for the Nine Network. 500 episodes were produced across 19 seasons. Clips from episodes have been archived on YouTube for preservation.

Might be a kid's show but some absolute classics here, in an easy to ingest format.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/549019

these people have created a diy lab reactor you can synthesise medicines with, but I can’t find how to make it anywhere. can anyone find out, or share from their own knowledge?

What plan resources do you use? Ive built a couple of icreatables firewood sheds and not bad. Just looking for other leanto type shed options

I remember seeing a wiki awhile ago (possibly on the r/solarpunk subreddit?) that was dedicated to providing people with open source furniture. Primarily they used a laser cutter and cheap plywood for ease of use. The end goal was to create public spaces that were easy to set up in the communities. For the life of me I can't find the original wiki! I'd love to rediscover it as I'm moving and will finally be able to work on some of the projects. Does anyone know the website that I am talking about?

A small solar power system to run a LoRa water temperature sensor year round. Here's some pretty graphs of the data:

https://www.kaedon.net/mitigomish/watertemp

This is a project that's been running for almost 2 years now. Everything is still working with very little down time! The solar power system is way overpowered for what it's doing, but I wanted to make sure it works through the dark winters.

The temperature sensor is at the bottom of a bucket in the ground, because the water level gets pretty low in the winter and I didn't want the ice to destroy the temperature sensor when it drifts.

Any thoughts or suggestions for improvements are welcome!

This is DIY repair, not project.

Had some nasty MDF damage. Instead of looking for replacement parts ar sending table to indefinite storage, decided to fix it. I hope this will be useful to someone.