EN123   Fall, 2005
Lab Guidelines

The main lab for 123 is room 095 in the Giancarlo Annex.

Room 095 will be unlocked from 9a.m. to 5pm M-F.
The phone number in the lab is 401 863 9852.
Dial 8 first to get an outside line for local calls.
The temperature control is across the door from the phone.
The light switches under the temp control should be left on; the lights will turn off automatically if the motion detector in the ceiling senses no activity. If you're in the lab and the lights suddenly go out, wave your arms in the air.

The big refrigerator near the sink in 095 is for storing chemicals; there is a small food frig at the end of the 10' x 4' optical table. If you drink soda or coffee in the lab put your drink container on the floor, so spills do not damage keyboards or equipment.

There are 4 equipment set-ups in 095, each having a computer (with Nat'l Inst 6024E DAQ card installed), digital oscilloscope, Agilent power supply, multimeter, and waveform generator, logic probe, hand-help multimeter, and "blue box" breadboard unit. Between the setups on each side of the room are soldering irons.
Room 097 has a similar setup for "overflow".
Room 222A Prince Lab, as part of an EN100 project, also has two LabVIEW equipped Athlon computers and the Agilent equipment, and blue box power supplies. Phone in 222A is 3-7587.
The seven computers (095, 097, 222A) each have a copy of the Agilent waveform generator Users Manual, and a LabVIEW book, which should stay with each setup.
B-20 Arnold Lab, where we will do two animal experiments, has six Gateway computers with NI 6024E cards and connector boxes. The Gateways, however, don't have ZIP drives.

Computers. The computers run Windows 2000 or XP; you'll see a desktop icon for LabVIEW on each one. Each computer has in a PCI slot a National Instruments 6024E DAQ card; from the card a cable connects to a green screw terminal block.

All computers are on the network and in theory can share files.

One of the computers in each room has speakers. Let's say only that computer will be allowed to play music in the lab. There is a JDD playlist on my iTunes account, for default music.

Please do not auto-arrange of icons on the desktops or in the folders.
Add bookmarks to the browsers in appropriate folders, or create your own folder.
Please don't download MPG movies.
Do not install Kazaa, Grokster, or any Instant Messaging anything.
No need to power down the computers at the end of the day; they're "always on" for the duration of the course.

Saving your LabVIEW VI's. It's probably best to save your "virtual instruments" on floppies or zip disks, so you have backup. You can also create a folder in \My Documents\12303_IP\team_name for your team on any computer and save your work there.

Safety.
» There is a fire extinguisher out the 095 door across the hall to your right.
» On the inputs to the 6024E DAQ (through the green connector card) do not exceed 20 volts plus or minus, or the card inputs may be permanently damaged.
» When removing the DAQ cable from the green connector card, pull on the metal fitting, not on the cable itself! I wouldn't care so much if we had extra cables, and if the cables cost a lot less than $65 each, but a least one student has recently shown how easy it is to rip the cable out of the connector by pulling on the ribbon cable itself to disconnect!
» Wear safety glasses when soldering or drilling.
» Use a clamp for holding work, esp. for drilling.

Security.
» The strikeplate of the door to 095 B&H relaxes between 9a.m. and 5pm M-F. Push on the door and it will open.

Cleanup. Each team can have a green NI connector board, wire strippers, pliers and a NI screwdriver, to be returned at the end of the semester. Move your tools, circuits, etc when you're done for the day to a yellow box on the second level shelf in 095. Return all other tools to the tool chest in 095, near the door.

Soldering. There will be two soldering stations in 095.
Ask the TA or JDD for a demo if you've never soldered before.
There will be clamps at the soldering stations to help hold your work.
The Weller soldering tips we use like to be cleaned on the sponge, which likes to be kept wet (note sink in lab).
If you're soldering stranded wire to a connection, "tin the leads" before making connection: Apply solder to the strands to bind them together.
When soldering, hold the hot tip against the work for a few seconds until the solder begins to melt.
Allow several more seconds before flexing the leads, so the solder can harden.

When you watch me solder, if too much liquid solder accumulates on the tip, I can be lazy and instead of wiping the tip on the sponge I will flick the solder off onto the floor. Attempt at your own risk.