STEVEN BELL / PROJECTS
Experiments, instruments, and things built by hand. Open a project to see its development, photographs, and descriptions.
8 photosPhoto 503 · My active project: a high-temperature furnace with a stainless-steel chamber and tungsten resistance heating. The goal is to melt sapphire and ruby.
Photos 246–247, 249, 251–254, 503
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11 photosPhoto 500 · My current tungsten-filament winding fixture, the arbor-press forming setup, and the earlier winding method.
Photos 26–27, 500–501, 511–512, 514, 516, 518–520
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5 photosPhoto 5 · No date foundA stainless-steel cooking pot adapted into a furnace chamber, with cooling and material-heating trials.
Photos 5–7, 9–10
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11 photosPhoto 15 · No date foundInvestigating tungsten oxidation during furnace heating, and developing titanium oxygen getters to remove residual oxygen and protect the filament.
Photos 1–4, 8, 12–17
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1 photoPhoto 11 · No date foundA small controller that monitors cooling-water flow and provides an alarm and relay connections.
Photo 11
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7 photosPhoto 18 · No date foundA resistively heated furnace and the small crystals found inside an alumina test sample.
Photos 18–20, 22–25
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7 photosPhoto 28 · No date foundAn early heat-source experiment that highlighted the problems of carbon contamination and electrode wear.
Photos 28–34
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3 photosPhoto 35 · No date foundA handheld light project with selectable colors, brightness control, and an Arduino-based controller.
Photos 35–37
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6 photosPhoto 38 · No date foundA polished copper chamber and halogen lamps used to explore radiant heating.
Photos 38–43
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17 photosPhoto 44 · No date foundA water-cooled copper furnace with an optical temperature-measurement system and a series of filament trials.
Photos 44–60
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11 photosPhoto 61 · No date foundAn induction-heated graphite and tungsten assembly used to heat alumina and chromium-oxide feedstock.
Photos 61–69, 426–427
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2 photosPhoto 70 · No date foundExperiments with lightweight carbon crucibles and small metal-melting trials.
Photos 70–71
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9 photosPhoto 72 · No date foundA quartz chamber and graphite supports explored as a compact induction-heating setup.
Photos 72–80
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4 photosPhoto 81 · No date foundPhotographs and notes from a trip to see a total solar eclipse.
Photos 81–84
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17 photosPhoto 86 · No date foundMagnetic-launcher prototypes and measurements, followed by earlier experiments and the original prototype.
Photos 86–96, 267, 271, 274, 350, 357–358
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3 photosPhoto 97 · No date foundAn experimental handheld enclosure for a magnetic-pulse project.
Photos 97–99
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31 photosPhoto 100 · No date foundOptical instruments that compare the light transmitted through water samples, from bench prototypes to a radio-connected river deployment.
Photos 100–123, 310–313, 318, 359–360
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1 photoPhoto 124 · No date foundAn early material-heating trial that produced an impure corundum-like mass and prompted a change of approach.
Photo 124
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3 photosPhoto 125 · No date foundA larger external battery supply for a compact headlamp.
Photos 125–127
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5 photosPhoto 128 · No date foundAn exploratory furnace using microwave-excited plasma to heat ruby feedstock.
Photos 128–132
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2 photosPhoto 133 · No date foundAn accessible power switch and meter for monitoring workshop experiments.
Photos 133–134
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14 photosPhoto 135 · No date foundAn early crystal-growth furnace with a split insulating enclosure, feedstock reservoir, and rotating lift.
Photos 135–148
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7 photosPhoto 149 · No date foundAn adjustable concave-mirror and webcam setup, with an idea for remote single-point temperature sensing.
Photos 149–155
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3 photosPhoto 156 · No date foundAn experimental sensor using an absorbing coating on thin gold leaf to explore small resistance changes from heating.
Photos 156–158
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3 photosPhoto 159 · No date foundAn electrochemistry experiment and the resulting copper sample.
Photos 159–161
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8 photosPhoto 162 · No date foundA Faraday-effect experiment that translated changes in a magnetic field into a change in transmitted light.
Photos 162–164, 398–399, 403–405
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31 photosPhoto 409 · Explorations of magnetic cooling with gadolinium and ferrofluid, supported by custom controls and temperature measurements.
Photos 165–167, 328–342, 346–347, 374–376, 390–391, 409–414
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2 photosPhoto 168 · No date foundA transformer-based bench supply with energy storage, rectification, and current monitoring.
Photos 168–169
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9 photosPhoto 170 · No date foundMy first vacuum-chamber experiments and the lessons learned from producing plasma inside a glass bell jar.
Photos 170–176, 290, 292
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5 photosPhoto 177 · No date foundA watertight enclosure concept and a separate sound source for testing an underwater microphone.
Photos 177–179, 428–429
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8 photosPhoto 424 · Outlet-control prototypes combining wireless commands, relay switching, and visible status indicators.
Photos 182–185, 422–425
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2 photosPhoto 180 · No date foundAdjustable optical mounts for splitting and recombining a laser beam to produce an interference pattern.
Photos 180–181
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3 photosPhoto 186 · No date foundA pocket-sized projector that cast an engraved name card onto a nearby surface.
Photos 186–188
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6 photosPhoto 189 · No date foundA small electronics kit I designed, packaged, and sold, with visual assembly instructions.
Photos 189–194
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7 photosPhoto 195 · No date foundA rechargeable-battery packaging concept that earned third place and a $1,000 prize in a Lehigh University innovation competition.
Photos 195–197, 286–289
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3 photosPhoto 198 · No date foundAn early audio project built into a wooden case made by my grandfather.
Photos 198–200
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