Anyone built a Faraday Cage??

[DakotaMom]

Looking for tips on building a Faraday cage...planning to store a short wave radio there...nothing else, so I want it as small as possible.

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[Silver Fox]

Look for a member called Wheeler44, he is a professional metal worker who has built such cages for government agencies.

SF-

 

[Trlsmn]

-----Insert tin foil hat joke here-----

 

[Member 5605]

Isn't it just a box wrapped in wire mesh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

 

[Just Jim]

You can...

Store electronic equipment safely from EMP in a metal ammo box or if you need to right away put it in your microwave oven. Microwaves are built to keep radiation in so it will keep it out too. This is supposed to work but I haven't had a bomb to try it.

jj

 

[Silver Fox]

You can...

Store electronic equipment safely from EMP in a metal ammo box or if you need to right away put it in your microwave oven. Microwaves are built to keep radiation in so it will keep it out too. This is supposed to work but I haven't had a bomb to try it.

jj

JJ-

What said is what wheeler said but I have a short attention span on subjects that aren't guns/scuba/motorcycle/military history related. I referred DM to big wheel cause he is super journyman contractor metal worker dude who has built COM rooms for LE agencies in WA and OR.

Trazym- tin foil joke for me or big wheel? Get right down to it, we all need tin foil hats. It keeps the sun off your head, you can boil water, make a cup, cook food and make these really cool wonder woman/mr. T bracelets with it.

SF-

 

[Wheeler44]

A proper cage is a little more involved than just a metal box..

Electro/magnetic pulse....Ground the electricity with copper and shield from magnetism with iron...

Consider an iron box buried underground. Connected to a ground rod going even farther underground..Inside that box is a copper hardware cloth "cage" wrapped in bands of iron..the cage is grounded to the box....the box is filled and buried... the deeper the better...

 

[Arkarayne]

A proper cage is a little more involved than just a metal box..

Electro/magnetic pulse....Ground the electricity with copper and shield from magnetism with iron...

Consider an iron box buried underground. Connected to a ground rod going even farther underground..Inside that box is a copper hardware cloth "cage" wrapped in bands of iron..the cage is grounded to the box....the box is filled and buried... the deeper the better...

*raises hand* is it necessary to put like, rubber etc between what you want shielded and the cage?

Metal(conductive) Shell || Copper Mesh || Rubber insulator || Object?
Copper Ground Rod (attached to shell)

Yeah?

 

[DakotaMom]

Get right down to it, we all need tin foil hats. It keeps the sun off your head, you can boil water, make a cup, cook food and make these really cool wonder woman/mr. T bracelets with it. .......
...thanks for all the great tips on the foil hats.

 

[soberups]

Go to the junk yard and find a non-working microwave oven. The chassis of the oven itself is a Faraday cage. I tried an experiment myself at home, by putting my cellphone inside of my microwave oven and then dialing the number from my landline. My cellphone didnt ring; no reception, hence no microwave penetration.

 

[Member 5605]

So would there be a good way to verify a good ground that you connect to your cage?
I mean would the cell phone test work good?

Possibly also putting a wireless router into one?

 

[MarkSBG]

Wouldn't the router be worthless without having a computer, modem, internet service provider, and power source that survived also?

 

[Trlsmn]

Wouldn't the router be worthless without having a computer, modem, internet service provider, and power source that survived also?

Well if all the rest of your wireless devices were also contained within the cage it would work with a power source but it would be a small network.

Electronics is my other hobby BTW. I'm set up to design and burn circuit boards and can even solder surface mount chips.

 

[Member 5605]

Sorry...

to clarify:
Using such device to test the ability or strength of the box. Not wanting to keep them after such a device were to go off.. I meant just to test it out.

 

[DakotaMom]

No i'd read somewhere else awhile ago that if you used an old microwave, you needed to remove the cord. is this true??

 

[TRD1911]

I had no idea what a Faraday cage was so I did what anyone does when they need a reliable source of info. I went to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7nj5xg-E4Y&feature=youtube_gdata

If you ask me, this looks like a schizophrenics coffin.

I have to say that a faraday seems like a good idea though.

 

[DakotaMom]

Oh my...that youtube video was "interesting"....I was thinking of something on a MUCH smaller scale, just large enough to house a short wave radio, to use to communicate if an EMP situation occurred...

 

[TRD1911]

http://www.youtube.com/user/myspirit2000

I checked out the profile of the person who posted the previously posted video on youtube. Yup, definetly a schizo. She was talking about micorowave chips implanted under her nose and ears and how her neigbors are spying on her for the government....

sorry for the slight derail but I have to share this little treasure and this seemed like the most appropriate place....if there is one at all!

enjoy

 

[Artilleryman]

hmm I just tried that cell phone in the microwave thing but with different results.....it obviously received the signal because it rang when I called it..I've either got a great phone or a crappy microwave.

 

[MrNatural]

You can make an effective field-expedient Faraday Cage for small items very simply by wrapping them in aluminum foil and putting them in a metal cookie box or big popcorn can or ammo can or other closed metal container. That will block and/or dissipate most all radition. Of course the container cannot be pierced and there must be no wires coming into it.

Use a cell phone to test it. Put the wrapped phone in the container. If the phone rings inside, you need more shielding.

If the metal container doesn't work by itself, wrap it in one layer of aluminum foil. Try again.

If that doesn't do it, wrap the metal container in a layer of saran wrap for insulation and wrap the whole thing in a layer of aluminum foil. If that doesn't do it, nothing short of copper mesh and a hard-wired ground line will work.

I keep a wind-up radio and a wind-up flashlight in a cookie tin wrapped as above. Easy and simple and its great peace of mind.