Heading off to Los Alamos

 Spent four nights at Mom's residence, in a nice guestroom.

Brother Dan invited me to display the Pinocchio Science Exhibit at his makerspace on Wednesday, and it was a grand success! It was the first time both Little Pinocchio and Pinocchio Grande performed together!

I suppose some explanation of the science museum exhibit is in order...

Growing up in Los Alamos, we loved visiting the small but amazing Science Museum. Three exhibits really stood out:

There was a set of remote manipulation arms for radioactive materials, sort of like these:

Space History Photo: Bob Oldrieve Using Manipulator Srms | Space

The talented operator would show how expertly he could use the arms, pouring liquids, and so on. As a finale, he would ask the name of one lucky kid. He would gracefully write the name, and with a flourish, rip the paper off the pad, deposit it in a slot, and present it to the lucky kid. 

I was never that kid.

Then there was the magnetic pinch. it had a clear plastic tube, about two inches in diameter,  with wire winding a few inches apartAfter explaining how magnetic fields could contain a plasma, enabling nuclear fusion, the demonstrator would insert a cylinder of foil into the tube. There would be a loud POP and the demonstrator would extract the foil cylinder, which had its ends crimped much in the style of a Chrismas Cracker (which we didn't know about then). He would then present the pinched foil cylinder to a lucky child.

I was never that child.

Then there was the Pinocchio Nuclear reactor demonstrator. It was a clear acrylic box, about 2 feet byt 3 feet, by 3 feet, and at the bottom was a plate with 45 holes, evenly spaced, each about 2 inches in diameter. It looked like this:

After explaining how nuclear fission worked, the demonstrator would select one lucky kid to insert a ping pong ball into the  apparatus. The ping pong ball would bounce around until it fell into one of the holes. There would be a pop sound, and out came two ping pong balls, which would fall into two other holes, and then four ping pong balls, then eight, and finally, the whole box was full of ping pong balls bouncing around like popcorn. It was exciting!

But I was never  chosen to  be the lucky kid who inserted the ping pong ball, either.

In the 2000s, I revisited the Bradbury museum, which had moved location, and none of these exhibits still existed. I asked about them, and it turned out there was some information on them. I tracked the original Pinocchio to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, where it sat in a corner, broken and forlorn.

I had to do something about that.

Quick research showed I didn't have the $1M+ to purchase a set of remote manipulators, and that the Magnetic Pinch used a combination of ultra high voltage and high current that could easily kill me, but a replica Pinocchio, that was within my capabilities. In 2013, I made a prototype out of PVC fittings and wood that was too crude, too ugly, and too complicated -- but showed the concept could work with off the shelf components. I worked on a second prototype with 7 tubes off and on for the next 7 years, mostly off, because Life was happening. Then in 2020, I got inspired by an upcoming class reunion, and managed to get it 90% complete before I had to leave. I stopped by the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History to show Ryan, the director of museum exhibits, my progress, and told him I thought I could get it running if I just had a little time in his workshop. He generously gave me a spot to work, and sure enough, after a few tweaks, it was running well enough for Emily the intern to demonstrate it. This would become Little Pinocchio.

Little Pinocchio was a big hit at the class reunion -- many classmates fondly remembered the original, and enjoyed running the new version, tiny as it was.

This inspired me to produce a larger model -- 40 tubes rather than 45, but much the same dimensions as the original. This would be known as Pinocchio Grande. 

Tadaa!

In early 2022, Ryan contacted me to express interest in the scaled-up version. I fancied I might have it done by the end of April, and ready for delivery in August. I was half right. I finally got it ready to ship (well, most of the way, I still have to work on a few things) on August 14. I held an open house on August 21 to show Pinocchio off and get a little beta testing in. The open house was a huge success, with about 50 neighbors, friends, church members, Scouts, Scouters, and Asmbly makerspace members attending. We found a few bugs that needed to be fixed and improvements that could be made. Mostly, we had a lot of fun.

Here is my wife Lisa demonstrating Pinocchio: 

https://photos.google.com/search/_m8_Favorites/photo/AF1QipOTMzBUtKnTU1avuYT4UOeYNfykNLtbz5QVqPPN

So I made a few improvements, wrapped it up, and headed out 27 August. I also spiffed up Little Pinocchio with a new cabinet, a new acrylic hood, and improved electronics. I didn't get Little Pinocchio running for the open house, but now it was good to go, thanks to some help from SMC Pneumatics and a 24v Power supply.

So that brings us up to date. Except I didn't get the exhibit to Ryan, as I had planned to do. I still need to implement some functionality -- specifically, adding a mode where the exhibit is started by a button rather than by injecting a ping pong ball "neutron"

But now I am off to Santa Fe and Los Alamos for a three day weekend!