Hampturecam is installed

Here's the view from inside:
This should afford a good view of the ham hams running on the saucer/wheel thing and coming/going through one of the tubes. Not ideal, but the best view available.

Meanwhile, here's the algae bioreactor so far:
Needs 18 bottles total (and algae) to provide enough oxygen for 3 hamsters with a reasonable excess to ensure it's sufficient. Guess I'll be drinking a lot of soda for a while.

Photo of progress so far

Here's the habitat(s), bolted down to the platform (the bolt heads cannot be seen as they're buried under a thin layer of cat litter) and joined by acrylic tunnels that are now sealed against water using silicone gel, which has hardened nicely overnight. I've just added the air input tubes, which will connect to the detachable umbilical once *their* silicone sealant has dried.
As you can see I've included the Hampture Mk.II habitat alongside it for size comparison, and I've been positioning the camera in different places and looking through it wiht my laptop to get a sense of where the best view would be.

Algae based life support.

I've been wanting to experiment with such a system anyway, and the end result might wind up being added to Hampture Mk.III as an upgrade. Basically the air pump circulates air from the enclosure through a series of algae water filled 2 litre soda bottles, where airstones dissolve the air into the water so the algae can remove the CO2 and replace it with oxygen. It's then forced into the next bottle where the process is repeated, and so on. I call it the Human Centipede principle of life support. Patent pending.

If this works as expected, that's one more tie with the surface I can sever, and only the power cord will remain. Eventually I'd like some kind of watertight battery pack I can drop into place; I'd keep one charging at home while the other is in use, and every day I'd go out and swap them, thus keeping Hampture supplied with power. This would be a fairly expensive solution however so for the time being, a permanent power umbilical to the surface is unavoidable.

I definitely plan to deploy Hampture Mk.III With the surface air pump first, so as not to keep you guys waiting, in case that was unclear. You'll have streaming video from inside the habitat for a week or two, and then I'll get to work on the algae bioreactor upgrade.

All parts have arrived.

All enclosures, tubes and so on have arrived pre-cut for assembly. I'm now looking around for something to mount them on. It will probably wind up being water-sealed sheet wood, with a layer of paving tile underneath as ballast.

Just letting you know I'm still working on this. I had no idea a 4x larger habitat would be so much more work. Although really, moving cross country mid-project hasn't helped. Keep your eyes on this space, progress should be more rapid going forward.

Status of Project Hampture

The Mk. III habitat is still in Florida being completed by a friend who was interested in helping with the project. It'll be shipped when complete. However it's currently freezing cold outside, and I don't see myself deploying it until the weather warms up significantly.

Until then, don't forget to follow Project Earth Rover, which is what I'll be keeping myself occupied with until it's warm enough outside to continue with Hampture.

Those who are just finding this blog and curious whether anything's been done yet, the answer is yes, the prototype habitat was deployed in a lake some time ago for five hours. You can view the video of it here. It's the larger, multi-room habitat that you're waiting on, and that'll be a while.

Minor update

In preparation for the move I've bolted down all enclosures. It was harrowing, getting them laid out just right for the tube lengths, but it turned out wonderfully. I will apply sealant tomorrow night, and by the time it dries the UHaul will be here.

All it needs now is the application of the wood sealant (which I have), holes for the air hoses (which I can drill tomorrow) and weights (which I'll buy after the move, no sense in lugging them around in a suitcase).

Thanks to everyone that's donated recently, it funded a trip to Home Depot for bolts, the wood platform, sealant, an adapter (to use the power drill as a screwdriver) and so on. Thanks also to the friend who hauled that shit back to my place, couldn't have done that part without you.

The weather is cold as fuck lately so I won't be able to put it in the water in good conscience even when complete. As compensation I'm thinking of setting up a live webcam in the Hampture Mk. II prototype, which will be in an aquarium. Until the weather improves, though, the main focus will be on Project Earth Rover.

More progress to report!

With the help of a local blog follower I was able to get the platform, bolts and waterproof wood sealant I needed. I've got the holes for the screws drilled in the enclosures, preparing to bolt them down. After that, I'll apply silicone sealant around the tunnel rims and affix weights to the platform. That's basically it.Behind it: The plastic shelf I was trying to use beforehand. No place to screw things down, and not quite big enough, but it would've been cool looking. Ah well.

I have about ten days until I move cross-country. I can't deploy the habitat in such cold water, but I can have it shipped to where I'm moving and wait for warmer weather while I build the interior elements (like the clover garden). Nice to be moving forward, anyway.