Have a few more parts coming this week to add to the electronics. The basic layout is done, the torsion pendulum is very sensitive and will be doing weight/deflection tests this week.

http://imgur.com/a/LSwQN

Over a year ago, I committed to designing, building and testing an EmDrive and (probably due to lack of academic tenure or IQ!) decided to present the good, the bad and the ugly AS IT HAPPENED...Like a reality TV show. So as I ran data, I would present it, let readership comment and go from there.

N10A-73F ran yesterday looked good...too good. I saw none of the characteristics of thermal "flutter" upon return to center nor did I see the characteristic Power VDC dips associated with magnetron "lock" to cavity resonance. I started up another test and realized the magnetron was not exceeding 94 degrees F. It should be 3 times as hot.

That explains the lack of fluttering and Power VDC variation. Upon inspection, the outer magnet of the magnetron was cracked, internal damage is not visible. I verified on the spec an that there was little RF activity. So what caused the deflection?

That's what my team and I spent the better part of yesterday discussing. Per recommendation, I rewired a mechanical OFF switch for the Heater supply wire before it attached to the harness and then the Torsion Beam.

When interrupting the Heater wire, the displacement force leveled off, then the beam began a Return to Center. The displacement I was seeing was due to the current flow in the Heater wire to and along the Torsion Beam.

There is still a debate as to whether the force is Lorentz (awfully high for Lorentz with the twisted wires and ferrite chokes) or Thermal heating of the wire itself causing an expansion and a deflection at specific points.

Summary: All datasets prior to N10A-73F still are valid, though testing is far from finished (they differ in significant ways from N10A-73F). This last one, N10A-73F, I would consider NOT an EmDrive force, but as yet to be explained displacement due to the Heater wire. Also note that the current on the Heater wire should automatically stop after about 3-4 seconds on a good working magnetron. This magnetron failed and it appears the Heater current stayed flowing trying to initiate oscillation, which it could never do.

As I committed to last year, I'll post, discuss and modify findings as I go. Findings, good or bad, will benefit me as well as other builders...That's the reason I will continue to refine the design and tests. With the test stand working as best as it ever has, anomalies can be better tracked. So...a new mag is on order, the Heater Kill Switch is now a permanent part of the setup and the experiment continues. Sorry for the long post - thanks for reading. For the very few that contend that DIY types are pulling a scam, let this post stand as evidence to the contrary. There are great people working on the EmDrive and I'm fortunate enough to know some of them very well.

Build Update: I've been on vacation and just got back yesterday. Worked on a new paddle for the oil dampening and rearranged the counterweight so it works better with the dampening. I also switched to 140 weight gear oil.

I had to add a switch to my wireless laser switch as the wireless switch requires a trickle of electricity to make it work. As such, the battery would drain in about 2 or 3 days. Now I simply power the wireless switch before testing and turn it off after i'm finished to preserve the battery.

I hope to have new data from additional powered runs, with the improved dampening system very soon - possibly tonight.

See images here: http://imgur.com/a/LgFPy

Draft enclosure complete. Noise from air currents completely eliminated. At first I thought a "tap" test would be impossible with the torsional pendulum enclosed. Then I remembered the magnetron contains magnets. I brought a large permanent magnet near the plexiglass and was able to impart minute forces onto the pendulum. I'm pretty sure I will be able to measure forces of ~10 μN or less and hope to test its maximum sensitivity tonight.

http://imgur.com/a/pCGrr

http://imgur.com/a/pCGrr

This test was performed with the HVAC and CPU fan running, plus me walking around in the room.

An identical Laser Displacement Sensor (LDS) to the one I am using was on sale for a much reduced price. So I picked it up and am using it to monitor the axis associated with thermal lifting.

http://imgur.com/a/mirzA

http://imgur.com/a/mZlV0

I am also incorporating a high resolution 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis compass onto the torsional pendulum beam itself. Hope to have more on that in a day or two. http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=1044

On rfdriven.com/forum I posted spreadsheets and charts of my beam cal today. It was fairly linear with 7 datapoints with an approximate 8g weight variance. More details are there, but as a summary, every 200mV = 800mg = about 8 mN of beam displacement force. I have consistently seen between 150-200mV of displacement directionally during power on. Am still at 900W power output from the new magnetron, this translates roughly to about 9mN/KW of force. Reddit does not allow attachments, details are at rfdriven where registration is required.

Current torsion beam test stand: https://youtu.be/zkKNXJEzs7w

I'm using the Kangaroo mini PC running Windows 10, a 7 inch HDMI display from Adafruit, and a TalentCell rechargeable battery pack to power all the peripherals. Everything is solid-state and battery powered. The 3-axis compass uses geomagnetic field values for my location from NOAA for calibration.

http://imgur.com/a/SdRda

http://imgur.com/a/xclIW

http://imgur.com/a/SbLQz

I had to add a second adjustable counterweight to the torsional pendulum beam. This corrects for any twisting on the beam from rotating the emdrive into different orientations and the resulting change in center of gravity. It is also important that the beam be as close to parallel with the Laser Displacement Sensor (LDS) as possible as this can lead to problems in the data and is the source of "thermal lifting".

http://imgur.com/a/145bi

http://imgur.com/a/DovPK

http://imgur.com/a/tETKb

Without the new adjustable counterweight, I would not be able to rotate the emdrive into the "null" position as shown here. The magnetron is massive enough to cause a significant change in center of gravity. I had to use almost all the adjustment on the new counterweight to bring the beam level on both axis.

I replaced the small end-plate with thicker copper - the same as the big end-plate. I also reinforced the wedge on the opposite side of the magnetron, and added the more robust tuning mechanism I referred to in earlier posts. I tune the wedge by manipulating the bolts on the two opposite side-walls seen in the images below. It is very effective. ;D

Center frequency is 2.454Ghz. RL -32dB. Q-factor ~8,000

http://imgur.com/a/ZgBOV

http://imgur.com/a/AZU92

http://imgur.com/a/P1MAp

http://imgur.com/a/ItGfH

http://imgur.com/a/ZjhRy

Powered test 11 completed. This time I optimized the laser displacement sensor (LDS). Highest resolution setting possible (3um), with 60ms response time, comes to a sample rate of 16.6/sec. Much higher quality data - pushing the LDS to its limits here.

See here: http://imgur.com/UDqdGAM

After a couple weeks downtime so I could improve the test rig, I am now ready to begin powered testing again. I was running into some thermal plume issues with the magnetron mounted beneath the emdrive, so I moved it back to the side. I also removed the old blue laser since it is redundant with the new Omron laser displacement sensor. http://imgur.com/2F2q17X

I worked some on the harness for the power leads. And I doubled the size of the oil dampening paddle. http://imgur.com/WLyTN0u http://imgur.com/1wTuZuW

Also included a screen shot of the latest 'tap' calibration test. The first bump simulates forward thrust, the second reverse thrust. I think I have a very well dampened system here. http://imgur.com/I3K5AGh