Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Mad Scientist of the Year 2016 Nominations

Mad Scientist of the Year 2016 Nominations

aga - 9-10-2016 at 09:17

There are a lot of High Quality posts on this site from Amateur Chemists.

Don't you think it's time we publicly recognised those whose contributions are Outstanding and, well, downright Excellent ?

The first prize will be instant accolade from your SM peers, undying admiration (until next year), a cash award of €50, plus any award(s) that may be donated by other SM members.

Maybe even The Offical Trophy if i can cast a decent one out of Al.

The runner-up will not have to cope with the trophy, but will also receive a prize.

So, please suggest your Nominations for outstanding posts/threads over the past year and your reasons why.

Edit: please put a link to the post/thread that you nominate.

All nominations must be made before 1st November.
The vote will end 1st December so we can have it all done by xmas.

Once all nominations are in, we'll go to a vote in Whimsy to decide the Winner, so make sure you got access.

Please don't nominate yourself more than once !

[Edited on 9-10-2016 by aga]

crystal grower - 9-10-2016 at 10:31

I nominate myse*cough*lf

.
... Ok, now seriously, I suggest nomination for arkoma for all his experiments (succesful or not

), also for proper foto-documentation of his chickens

, also for his nice gift to my collection of elements and simply, this redneck just deserves it

.

If I am allowed to nominate two people, I'd like to nominate you aga. You simply must be in the competition

. And by the way, if you win youcan keep your trophy lol

arkoma - 9-10-2016 at 10:58

Just wanna say to any "newcomers" aga DEFINITELY puts his euros where his mouth is. When he offers a prize he pays out.

*edit* I nominate Woelen

[Edited on 10-9-2016 by arkoma]

aga - 9-10-2016 at 11:20

Please link to any one of woelen's excellent posts to support the nomination.

aga - 9-10-2016 at 11:21

I nominate:-

blogfast25
for the awesome 'Quantum Mechanics/Wave Mechanics in Chemistry Beginners Thread'

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=62973

Magpie
for the wonderfully presented 'preparation of congo red'

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=66391

Edit:

You can nominate as many people as you like, but please supply a link to the post/thread that supports your nomination.

People will want to take a look and make their mind up before voting.

[Edited on 9-10-2016 by aga]

Texium - 9-10-2016 at 12:27

I second aga's nomination of Magpie. Just type "preparation" in the forum search engine, limit it to subject only and posts by Magpie, and you'll find tons of very great writeups. In 2016 alone:

Preparation of thymolphthalein
Preparation of α-nitronaphthalene
Preparation of naphthionic acid
Preparation of congo red
Preparation of hydrazine hydrate
Preparation of Succinic Acid

All, of course, are complete with pictures and clearly-written procedures.
That's what Sciencemadness is all about right there.

aga - 9-10-2016 at 12:39

Please link in the posts so people can find them easily.

HeYBrO - 9-10-2016 at 13:01

Magpie!

here ya go agagaga

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/search.php?srchuname=Magp...

[Edited on 10-10-2016 by HeYBrO]

aga - 9-10-2016 at 13:55

Please link in the posts so people can find them easily.

A small amount of Effort is required or your nomination is like dust.

SuperMan ! Alfred Nobel ! Kamikaze Kid !

All Equally pointless without a reference (this is Science forum, if you forgot).

The Posts are there, just provide a link.

For those who do not know how, click on the bit that says 'posted on' and then copy what appears in the browser Address field.

As an aside, these annual Awards might be called the SMobel Awards.

Maybe that's going too far, but i do not care : it sounds good.

Texium - 9-10-2016 at 14:03

aga: I stated the names of six threads and and gave a detailed explanation of how to find all of them.

Also I was just seconding your nomination of Magpie, as was HeYBrO, so politely, get that stick out of your butt and settle down!

While reference all of your posts is one common adage around here, UTFSE is another one...

aga - 10-10-2016 at 10:54

Where i chose to store my stick is entirely personal choice ...

Anyway, are there no nominations for anything in the EM section ?

I'd have thought there'd be something to Blow us Away by now

aga - 10-10-2016 at 11:12

Nominate m1tanker78 and tvaettbjoern for dogged determination in their work on the for the "Cheap, Low-Resolution, Raman Spectroscopy" thread.

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=23422

I'd also nominate radagast who started that thread, but he/she seems to have gone a couple of years ago.

j_sum1 - 11-10-2016 at 01:28

I dislike these kinds of popularity contests and so won't vote when the time comes. But I am very appreciative of the community here and draw inspiration from the shared ideas and efforts at experimentation.

But I think it is right to give honour where it is due. So if you wish to count these as nominations or seconding someone else's nomination then so be it.

woelen, ever the gentleman and generous with his knowledge. Pick nearly any post he has made and you will see it.

blogfast -- this place would not be the same without him. His threads on chemical theory and the recent comp were highly appreciated.

zts16 more than qualifies imo. Although separated from his lab, his continual input into cheical discussions has been great. But he especially deserves kudos fore his tireless efforts as a mod and his level-headed approach to the task.

hegi and crystal grower both deserve a mention. (And I always forget who has done what.) Their frequent contributions to the pretty pictures thread have been magical.

Magpie has been prolific with constructing and testing lab hardware and his numerous write-ups have been of the highest stsndard. He epitomises the intentions of this place. The bar is set very high.

mrhomescientist -- the resurgence of his yt channel and the increased frequency of his posting here have been appreciate. Always inspirational.

phlogiston - 11-10-2016 at 01:53

The list would not be complete IMHO without Dan Vizine on it. His Thorium tribulations thread was one of the SM pearls of this year as far as I am concerned. Quite possibly he is the first amateur scientist to have prepared metallic thorium.

However, for similar reasons as j_sum I will not vote when the poll opens. -All- who contribute to the forum in any way and to their capacity deserve credit for making this the stimulation and educational place that it is.

Fidelmios - 21-10-2016 at 06:32

I think that we all deserve a metal! The Mas scientist 2016 should go to someone whose both talented and helpful!

It's seriously hard to chose between the vets.
Woelen is super helpful, and has 1,000 experiments up on a website.

Aga, J_sum1, Crystal Grower, and Hegi's (who should merge to one account of the name CGHeGi imo)

There are a ton of you browsing the Fundementals thread helping dumb asses like myself out for awhile. You're all winners!

crystal grower - 21-10-2016 at 08:45

Thanks for nominating me lol.
Yeah Woelen's website is truly helpful source of information for amateur chemists.
I would also like to nominate Dwarvensilver and Dmishin for sharing with us
amazing photos of their crystals collection in pretty pictures thread.

Another guys I'd feel bad for If they weren't noticed are Ashot - for his awesome youtube channel, Fidelmios - for putting effort in making chemistry videos, even though his channel isn't so perfect as for example the channel of mrhomescientist, I believe it's just a matter of time for him to get to that level

.
Mabus also absolutely deserves a nomination for his almost daily contribution to the SMwiki.

aga - 21-10-2016 at 12:45

Acknowledging the concerns of j_sum1 regarding personality contests, perhaps it should really be about Outstanding Posts ?

Thoughts anyone ?

crystal grower - 21-10-2016 at 13:04

I think it's ok as it is, just a friendly contest, nothing less, nothing more.
It just should be mentioned that everyone contributing to this forum, helping others, deserves respect and appreciation.

aga - 21-10-2016 at 13:32

I agree, however i feel it appropriate for outstanding Effort to be recognised and rewarded, in some way.

It isn't like there's 10,000 active members here.

A more pressing problem is/are the trophy/s

I got Al aplenty, yet no real idea on what it should Look like.

The site Logo must be in there of course.

Somewhere to put the winner's Name is required, so that bit has to be flat.

Then there has to be a plinth of some sort so it doesn't fall over etc.

Any sketches/suggestions welcome.

blogfast25 - 21-10-2016 at 15:38

Many thanks to those mentioning my humble person.

A return of an old medical problem is the cause of my recent absence here. But I'm on the mend, so normal service to be resumed shortly. With my legal problems added, 2016 will truly be my 'annus horribilis' but I'm trying to look on the bright side, nonetheless!

The winner of the noobcomp is still owed his well deserved prize and I'm hoping to sort this out this weekend.

[Edited on 21-10-2016 by blogfast25]

Fidelmios - 21-10-2016 at 15:39

Awwwwh thanks Crystal Grower, maybe next year when we do this again I'll have contributed much more.. I've actually got a large pole barn that I can use to build a lab now!

As for aga and his idea, I think I have a solution that makes the best sense. If we change this contest from mad scientist to mad scientists, and have multiple winners. What we could do is make 3 categories, one for a 'popularity' , one for most helpful, and one for most dangerous (mad). That way even if you post on here once a year, but your post is over distilling HF from inside of a walmart, you can stI'll be a winner.... sort of. I know this would require 3x the work, but I think maybe we can make a medal, with the SM logo and maybe a little engraving. Maybe we could go with one of the lower tier lab supply companies like Hstl to donate glassware to the winner (s)

Camroc37 - 21-10-2016 at 18:04

Keep it safe and simple with the design Aga.
Maybe this will give you inspiration. Or not.

j_sum1 - 21-10-2016 at 18:33

Quote: Originally posted by aga

Acknowledging the concerns of j_sum1 regarding personality contests, perhaps it should really be about Outstanding Posts ?

Thoughts anyone ?

Hey, Don't cancel the fun on my account. I just don't think the result will actually mean a whole lot. The discussion might though.
And thanks for the reminder -- danvizine certainly deserves more than a casual mention. Anyone who embarks on a 3+ year mission to extract thorium and actually completes (and incidentally tidies up his workspace) is truly worthy. Makes anything I have done pale into insignificance.

aga - 22-10-2016 at 12:52

Anyone who tidies up his workspace is definitely worthy of respect

It means they Worked, and intend to Work again.

I think i got myself up shit creek with this idea here.

The intention is to Honor those who have given us a lot of Chem over the past year.

Some posts on SM are of a Very High Standard, and i feel that the authors should be recognised for their work.

It was Work, as in Actual Work, not just random words, and they shared the results of that that Work with Us.

So, REDO FROM START.

What Categories should there be ?

Not too many please as my metal casting skill is unlikely to be able to cope with 100 trophies before xmas.

Edit:

@Camroc37
yes ! that gives me an idea. Thanks.

[Edited on 22-10-2016 by aga]

Camroc37 - 25-10-2016 at 17:27

Quote: Originally posted by aga

Anyone who tidies up his workspace is definitely worthy of respect

It means they Worked, and intend to Work again.

I think i got myself up shit creek with this idea here.

The intention is to Honor those who have given us a lot of Chem over the past year.

Some posts on SM are of a Very High Standard, and i feel that the authors should be recognised for their work.
Glad I could help. Good luck with the ring part...

It was Work, as in Actual Work, not just random words, and they shared the results of that that Work with Us.

So, REDO FROM START.

What Categories should there be ?

Not too many please as my metal casting skill is unlikely to be able to cope with 100 trophies before xmas.

Edit:

@Camroc37
yes ! that gives me an idea. Thanks.

[Edited on 22-10-2016 by aga]

Glad I could help. Good luck with the ring...

[Edited on 26-10-2016 by Camroc37]

aga - 10-11-2016 at 14:00

Well, this trophy thing isn't going well.

So far i've melted copper in a mini arc furnace a-la King of Random design :-

Note the melted circle in the lid - that stuff is rated to 1560 C !

Then i tried making a template for the inner and outer flames from 1/4 inch steel plate.
Lots of angle-grindind and hack-sawing :-

The idea is to make the smaller inner part of the 'flames' from copper, then set them in the 'flames proper' made from brass, then stick that onto an aluminium base with the rest of the logo and stamped-in writing.

Each time i try to use the steel template, the molten copper explodes on contact, spattering all over the place, no matter how much i heat the steel template.

This approach gave a slightly sub-optimal product :-

Not quite the shape i wanted.

Abandoned that idea as it didn't work, and is very scary when it explodes.

The Hidden fire caused by an exploding bit took about 5 minutes to get discovered and extinguished (i eventually noticed a phenolic kind of smell so went looking, and found flames ...)

So, what next ? Investment casting with polystyrene as the 'form' to cast in sand.

Need a polystyrene cutter seeing as the last one i built and lent to someone never returned. Guess they liked it :-

When i pluck up the courage to put the polystyrene into some dry sand, then zap the hell out of a bunch of copper, then pour it, hopefully some progress will happen.

At this rate, they might be ready for the 2017 awards !

[Edited on 10-11-2016 by aga]

aga - 13-11-2016 at 09:31

Tried it again today and got somewhere ... nowhere good, but somewhere !

The bit on the right kinda shows the effect that was hoped for - the pinky copper as the centre of the flames and then brass as the main flame part.

Needs a LOT more brass melting, so will abandon the mini-arc furnace in favour of a big-ass fire.

Strange when melting the brass with an arc : wisps of white smoke appear, which then solidify.

One second smoke, next second solid, in exactly the same shape.

[Edited on 13-11-2016 by aga]

m1tanker78 - 13-11-2016 at 13:50

Aga, thanks for the mention!

Quote: Originally posted by aga

Strange when melting the brass with an arc : wisps of white smoke appear, which then solidify.

One second smoke, next second solid, in exactly the same shape.

[Edited on 13-11-2016 by aga]

This is most likely zinc burning off, the solidified smoke being zinc oxide. Same thing happens when you try to tig with filler rod that's meant for oxy-fuel brazing.

Have you considered buying some thin brass/copper sheet and cutting out patterns. Hammer some solder flat and cut into small pieces. Distribute the solder pieces (along with a tiny bit of flux) between the metal sheets and bake in a furnace, oven or BBQ pit.

The inner flame: White opaque cover with a yellow and red LED. Flea power microcontroller with a pseudo-random number generator to chaotically alter the intensity and interval of each LED. Or hack one of those fake decorative candles?

aga - 14-11-2016 at 09:41

Quote: Originally posted by m1tanker78

Aga, thanks for the mention!

You're welcome !

You're in the firing line to receive a trophy (if you win the vote) as are all mentioned in the thread, so prepare yourself, mentally and physically, as today i had some success !

382g of scabby cast Brass in some kind of desired shape !

Bollocks to tiny arc furnaces : a big-ass charcoal fire and a hairdryer won the day.

Cleanup, pour molten copper into the middle bit, chop into slices, set in a cast aluminium stand, polish, stamp in the name, then they'll be ready to terrify the vote winners with !

Haaaaaaaaaaa Haa Ha Haa Ha Ha ha ha ha.

crystal grower - 14-11-2016 at 11:19

Wow

that's quite an improvement aga!
This one is really pretty

.

[Edited on 14-11-2016 by crystal grower]

aga - 14-11-2016 at 11:46

It should look a lot prettier when it's cleaned up and polished : Brass is Shiny !

Progress ! The Joy !

Sorry for not starting the Votes thing yet, despite it being week 2 of November.

Can't start until the Trophies physically exist, as i could screw it up at any point in the process, which is an unknown process, to me at least.

A bit like any (most !) experiments really.

[Edited on 14-11-2016 by aga]

Texium - 14-11-2016 at 12:36

Wow, nice job on the trophies, aga, I like how you're doing it. I think they'll turn out to be very nice looking!

Will it just be a poll where people vote on who they think deserves it the most, and the trophies are sent out to the top however-many-trophies-were-made? Or will the selection process be more complicated than that?

aga - 14-11-2016 at 13:02

Nobody has said how it should all work, so i guess i'll just make some trophies of highly dubious quality and start some vote threads for random categories using the names of the people suggested.

So, the non-plan is just random crazy nuts stuff as per usual, but with the Intention of Honoring the Good and the Great.

Always open to suggestions though.

Edit:

Begging for suggestions really, or for someone sane to take over the organising.

I just want to make metal melt into trophies and see people Acknowledged for their awesome contributions to this site.

[Edited on 14-11-2016 by aga]

crystal grower - 15-11-2016 at 11:15

Just a humble suggestion, I think that we should keep things as simple as possibel and make only as much categories as is really needed. For example Best synthesis of the year, Most helpful madscientist of the year, Best newcomer of the year, and maybe a prize for someone who had survived the biggest armagedon in his garage.

aga - 15-11-2016 at 11:54

Today's Copper melt failed using the B.A.F.

Got the copper hot (950 C ?) but simply not hot enough to melt or pour.

Have to try the tiny arc thing again in the morning, but with quite a full tiny cruicible, which is far from ideal - the whole chunk must be poured in one go.

Got some ideas of the possible categories, although having anything to award is dubious.

Thinking now that a cash reward is demeaning, so withdraw that offer.

Winning the vote and accolade of the members should be reward enough.

Winning a trophy will be a Miracle given today's progress !

crystal grower - 15-11-2016 at 13:28

Well I didn't mean the prizes should be necessarily something materially.
If you manage to create one or two of those cool trophies it would be really cool (it could be reward for some kind of "main" category). Winners of other categories and maybe also runner-ups could recieve a reward in form special forum status (for example "Best SM Youtube channel of 2016").

m1tanker78 - 16-11-2016 at 18:29

Quote: Originally posted by aga

382g of scabby cast Brass in some kind of desired shape !

Looks much better. Are you using any sort of flux and/or charcoal cover? I vaguely remember watching my friend's dad spin-casting some bronze or brass figures back in the day at his machine/plating shop. It was a nail-biter at times especially with the way that damned drum wobbled like a crazed washing machine.

Does anyone have a copy of the complete SM logo in decent resolution? Is it OK to use and modify it?

As for categories... I guess it's not so straight forward after all.

"Whomsoever winneth this trophy shall be endowed with aga's craftsmanship, blood, sweat and tears!?"

aga - 17-11-2016 at 01:20

Phew ! Glad that part is finished.

Melting and casting a pile of copper is scarier than using chlorine gas.

IMG_3216.JPG - 39kB

Onwards to the chopping & cleaning ...

wg48 - 17-11-2016 at 02:07

Quote: Originally posted by m1tanker78

Does anyone have a copy of the complete SM logo in decent resolution?

Like this one

aga - 17-11-2016 at 02:30

Perfect ? Nah !

You weren't kidding about the blood part.

MrHomeScientist - 17-11-2016 at 08:32

Very cool! I think it looks awesome, and extra meaningful that it was created by one of our own.

The one time I melted copper perfectly, with the right excess of heat, it flowed just like water. Really crazy to see.

aga - 17-11-2016 at 08:46

For the individual trophies that block 'just' needs chopping into slices, each slice carved around a bit and then polished.

Each finished bit will then be set on top of the main aluminium part.

The word 'just' really should not be used in an amateur context, as i discovered the hard way !

The redder copper simply got hotter, which was a chance discovery when swapping to an angle grinder (the power hacksaw went off at an angle, hence the half-flame part).

Nicer effect IHMO.

[Edited on 17-11-2016 by aga]

j_sum1 - 17-11-2016 at 14:45

Brass to aluminium. That's going to be a fun weld to do.

aga - 19-11-2016 at 12:02

Not likely i'd get anywhere with that - better/easier to drill & fix with a bit of steel.

Tried the 'lost wax' casting method today and got a thick-walled Al cylinder to form the 'ring' part, once chopped into slices.

Not sure of the dimensions as a Pringle tube was used as the outer part and a tube of silicone sealant as the inner, wrapped in tinfoil.

Think it might work after cleanup/polishing despite the wonky lettering.

Just the .RG baseplate and the crucible to go.

Think i might do the crucible in 3-D seeing as the rest is basically 2-D.

Edit:

That's just a mock-up. The finished product will be shinier.

[Edited on 19-11-2016 by aga]

j_sum1 - 19-11-2016 at 13:08

Looking amazing aga.

aga - 19-11-2016 at 13:24

It'd be nice to anodise the mortar Black, with a stainless steel pestle sticking out.

So far i found out that the Al gets electrolysed in dilute sulphuric acid, then dunked in water, then dunked in a Commercial dye to achieve this.

Not found the recipe for Black yet.

Might try potassium dichromate solution to see what happens.

Blue or Orange will be OK, Black best.

Edit:

Nobody mentioned if the tropies should be non-toxic

[Edited on 19-11-2016 by aga]

violet sin - 19-11-2016 at 21:16

Out-figgin-standing work aga!!! Looks terific, and you get to learn in the process. I havent been following this thread, but now glad to have given it a glance. Deffinitely pop in a vote when the time comes, though it will be hard to choose. Soo many have contributed throughout the year, it in part comes down to what kind of chem you like to follow. Sure there will be votes for the crystal growers here, furnace guys, organic fellers, rock hounds and all maner of active posters. Thinking Dan will have one on lock for the exquisite thorium work.

Really wish I had more time to devote to sciencing my self. Plenty of ideas, so little time. And good lord, now I want one of them glorious, shiny bastards!! Well there is alwayse next year, and hopefully many, many, more to come.

Again, simply awesome work on the awards

...Hey, what about selenium(selenic acid) to darken it... Aka like gun barrels with the blueing kits. Local here at wallyworld ~8$. Alternately, try superficially oxidize steel and ospho that sucker black

[Edited on 20-11-2016 by violet sin]

aga - 20-11-2016 at 09:27

Amazing how easy anodising aluminium actually is !

Found this document :-
http://www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/activities/anodising.ht...

All i used was a car battery, a small sheet of Al chopped into strips (to make the wires & cathode) a bit of sulphuric acid and 1 litre disposable beaker.

A meter was used to measure the current, so acid was added until a decent current was flowing (~3.5A)

No actual dyes exist here, and all the shops are closed (without exception) on Sundays, so various things were tested without success.

Eventually dark soy sauce was tried out as the dye ...

Gold ! (ish)

All three bits of Al came from a 3/4" bar cast yesterday. The top one wasn't anodised just for reference.

With any luck i might get access to a lathe tomorrow and turn those bars into tiny crucibles, which can then be made Gold coloured with the soy sauce anodising trick.

Just the crucibles and the <u>.   RG</u> baseplate to go, and a lot of sandpapering.

The baseplate will be another lost wax casting. Incredibly hard to make a flat plate, never mind an 'R' and a 'G' from wax candles.

The idea is to melt/stick those to the cast sheet of wax, dollop a plaster 'slip' all over them, coat in sand, then repeat a few times before burning the wax out in an oven (or over a fire).

When finished, the molten aluminium gets poured into the space, so you end up with a metal version of whatever shape the wax was.

phlogiston - 20-11-2016 at 16:12

Very cool aga, Looks amazing already.

Many common fabric dyes (Dylon is a common brand) work well for dying anodized aluminium. You can get a decent black with some of them.

crystal grower - 21-11-2016 at 09:54

Wow, these trophies will be really magnificent (Go to hell Oscar

aga - 21-11-2016 at 12:26

Pretty sure they'll be a bit rough, but great fun to try to make.

Today i got some delicious Lathe Time !

Hard to believe it has been 15 years since i last had any.

As it turns out, i have forgotten how a radius is turned by hand, hence the grotty crucible shape on top of the aluminium rod.

Got more lathe time tomorrow morning so will try and get the shape better and hollow the crucible out.

Trimming up the 'rings' was great fun. This lathe is Proper and has power travel and slide.

Nice optical illusion of a perfect Al ring - it is certainly an illusion !

Also found a local shop selling black clothes dye, so there is a chance the cruicible/mortar will be anodised black after all.
(the dye pack contents look like interesting chemistry in themselves)

Think that will look better, especially with a shiny stainless steel pestle.

Edit:

After a bit of research i had not recalled correctly : you can't turn a radius by hand, you need a tool.

No time to make the tool so judged-by-eye is the way forward.

Onwards and Bodgewise !

[Edited on 21-11-2016 by aga]

aga - 24-11-2016 at 09:33

Penultimate update :-

Making these things has turned out to be great deal more convoluted than imagined.

The operations required (so far) are :-

<strike>Make polystyrene flames pattern
Cast bronze into flames
Cast copper into middle of flames
Chop flames into slices
Grind flame slices into shape
Make cylinder wax model
Make cylinder mould
Cast cylinder
Chop cylinder into rings
Drill holes & slot into ring
Fix flames to each ring
Stamp in lettering
Cast Al bar
Turn mortar-ish shapes into bar
Chop mortars from bar
Drill & tap mortars
Grind & chop steel rod into tiny pestles
Make baseplate wax model</strike>
Make baseplate mould
Cast base plate
Chop baseplate into slices
Drill & counter-bore baseplate
Anodise mortars black
Bolt together baseplate, circle & flames, mortar
Expoxy pestle into mortar

Optional: clean & Highly polish everything at all stages

Finally: Stamp in winner's sig, package & post.

Might not get time to do the optional bit, although a Bonus piece of sandpaper can be included with each trophy

With any joy they will all be as finished as they are ever going to get by this weekend.

[Edited on 24-11-2016 by aga]

j_sum1 - 24-11-2016 at 09:46

That is sweeeeet, aga.

I believe you deserve one of these beauties.

aga - 24-11-2016 at 09:55

Hell no !

I got a mountain of <strike>monstrosities</strike> artefacts cluttering up the shed already !

Seriously, these are not Science or serious Chemistry and the intention is simply to Recognise/Honour those who have contributed the most of those things to the site.

Sulaiman - 24-11-2016 at 10:35

aga, what a lovely memento - really well done - congratulations.

Daffodile - 24-11-2016 at 11:02

Nice job dood

m1tanker78 - 24-11-2016 at 23:04

Irony. Nominate aga for the award for his work on the award. It eliminates the last 2 steps (package & post).

Nice job aga!

crystal grower - 25-11-2016 at 09:09

Quote: Originally posted by m1tanker78

Irony. Nominate aga for the award for his work on the award. It eliminates the last 2 steps (package & post).

Nice job aga!

I agree

aga - 25-11-2016 at 09:19

OK. I'll keep one and make it from the scruffiest bits.

That leaves 4 of these trophies to inflict on people.

Made the baseplate mould today, so if the rain stops, 'Cast baseplate' gets done tomorrow.

Experiments with anodising lumps of Al black have not turned out very well - the colour is not even, nor properly black.

Will try again with black pen-ink.

If that fails, might as well go back to soy sauce for a slightly gold colour.

Tadaaaa

aga - 30-11-2016 at 05:27

Finally got these trophies 'finshed'.

Ended up with the soy sauce as the black ink didn't work at all for anodising.

Might have to call them the 'dot ORC awards' seeing as the 'G' didn't come out too well !

The one at the back is made from the scabbiest bits, so i'll keep that one, leaving 4 to give away.

I was thinking that it might be easier to just do 4 votes, one for each trophy, using the names listed in this thread.

Ideas anyone ?

Edit:

From this thread, the names proposed are (in order of mention) :-

arkoma
woelen
blogfast25
Magpie
m1tanker78
tvaettbjoern
zts16
crystal grower
hegi
mrhomescientist
Dan Vizine
j_sum1
Dwarvensilver
Dmishin
Mabus
Ashot
Fidelmios

Any more to add, and are Hegi/crystal grower the same ?

[Edited on 30-11-2016 by aga]

RogueRose - 30-11-2016 at 06:24

Those trophies look awesome for "homemade"! Great work!

Texium - 30-11-2016 at 08:18

It's going to feel rather painful to me due to the creation of so many threads for a single topic, but I suppose we could create a poll for the first trophy with all the names, then after a certain amount of time has passed and a winner has been decided, create a second poll with all the names except for the winner of the first trophy, and so on?

Texium - 30-11-2016 at 08:37

Another possible idea would be to split the list up into four categories, maybe like this:

General Chemistry:
arkoma
woelen
blogfast25
Magpie
j_sum1

Ambitious Projects:
m1tanker78
tvaettbjoern
Dan Vizine
Mabus

Pretty Pictures:
crystal grower
hegi
Dwarvensilver
Dmishin

YouTube:
Ashot
Fidelmios
mrhomescientist

I wasn't sure where I would fit into that since I was primarily nominated for my moderating rather than my contributions (which admittedly haven't been that much this year).

crystal grower - 30-11-2016 at 10:55

Wooow those trophies are wonderful! Keep one of them for sure. I'd feel bad for you if you gave them all away.

Quote: Originally posted by aga

Any more to add, and are Hegi/crystal grower the same ?

[Edited on 30-11-2016 by aga]

Hh, we are two guys but working mostly together(and Hegi has a better camera/photographing skills

) .

[Edited on 30-11-2016 by crystal grower]

aga - 30-11-2016 at 11:18

Cheers zts.

I think your first suggestion would be fairer and easier to do : 1 new vote/thread at a time per trophy, all names on the list apart from the name(s) of the winner(s) of the previous vote(s) so nobody gets two trophies.

Limit the time to 5 days per vote so it is all finished before xmas, and close the vote/thread after the deadline.

If that works OK for you, let's get started !

Edit:

If it makes it any easier to manage, you can start & stop each poll thread and i'll post a photo of the specific trophy the vote applies to (no two are exactly the same).

More Editing:

In fact, if i post a photo of each trophy here, you got all you need to be in control of posting the poll threads.

[Edited on 30-11-2016 by aga]

crystal grower - 30-11-2016 at 11:39

I agree.
And if it's possible to do, try choose the prettiest one for 1st winner, second prettiest for next winner and so on. (Altough I'm not sure if you can choose which one is prettiest).

aga - 30-11-2016 at 11:51

Beauty is always in the eye of the Beholder ...

In order of Weight :-

141g

156g

163g

168g

Materials :-
Recycled aluminium for the ring, mortar and .RG baseplate.
Steel for the pestle, fixing bolt, flame-fixing pin.
Brass plumbing fittings for the larger flames.
Copper pipe for the centre flames.
Lead/tin solder for any filling required on the flames.
Some epoxy cement to fix the pestle.

Edit:

Forgot 'mine', 130 g, plus the SI reference guage for size.

[Edited on 30-11-2016 by aga]

Texium - 30-11-2016 at 12:10

Last minute nomination: ave369, for her resourcefulness and collection of threads on purifying and using OTC products.

Any other last minute nominations before I post the poll? It's ready to go whenever.

aga - 30-11-2016 at 12:15

ave ! very good addition.

Well, we started asking for nominations 3 weeks ago, so i guess we're done with that part.

Give it a few seconds then lock this thread and go straight for poll #1.

Edit:

Thanks for taking over the poll posting thing ! Much appreciated.

[Edited on 30-11-2016 by aga]

Texium - 30-11-2016 at 12:40

Very well, I have to go to class now anyway, so I'll have to post it now. And no problem, I'm happy to help considering you've already done so much making the trophies.

Edit: The new thread is here: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=71...

[Edited on 11-30-2016 by zts16]