Female complications, day 21
The resistance
Alith wakes me up, telling me that Jane is on the radio and wants to ask me something about orders.
Ugh.
I'm still groggy when I get to the radio, and Jane apologise and says she wants to send me a Norse message in Laitje-Frigones letters. That wakes me up, and I react to Jane's tone of voice. She doesn't even want to use English. Laitje-Frigone's letters mean English, and only Jane and I read English. That's about as safe as something semi-improvised can get, and I can imagine why. Why doesn't Jane use the crypto we have? Has she forgotten? It's a short message that comes slowly as Jane hasn't practised as much as others, and not thinking in letters, but the message is clear: CHILD? QUICKLY FUCK HER.
I just send back: WILL. I+A KNOW.
Jane replies with: K DOESNT.
We go to voice mode and we talk a bit and I remind her of some work orders to leave. Jane finishes by saying she misses me, and I do the same. I really mean it.
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The morning is awkward as Haera, Skirlaug and Raneigh tries to socialise and adjust to their new future, which isn't helped by Iselin, Ciara and me 'hiding away' working in my workshop, but I'll go for another walk with Haera once the sun have risen.
We're making parts for other projects as we talk, and our talk is mostly related to electrical component manufacturing. It's a frustrating problem, but at the same time interesting and fun to do with my sexy nerdy wife and sexy beautiful and methodical concubine, and absolutely incredibly important to solve before we even try something more complicated like vacuum tubes. If we're going to be able to really build a lot of electronics and electromechanics, we need a relatively large production of electrical components, and each component type requires its own manufacturing, and has its own problems to solve. Especially if I want relatively accurate component values over a large range. Just measuring each component to verify the value gets complicated, especially when it comes to coils and capacitors. It's a bit ironic that an air coil or air capacitor is relatively easy to calculate and make even with many values over a fairly large range, but difficult to measure and verify, while a resistor is fairly easy to measure, but difficult to make and even more so to predict the outcome. I have formulae and data for calculating coils and capacitors, and really only require metal for some designs, and I just have to accept limitations in dielectric and material.
A switch or electrical connector needs those parts fabricated, via templates for ceramic insulation and machine that punches out the metal parts. Some metal parts need to be tin, silver or gold plated to avoid oxidising very quickly and creating faults and unreliable operation, but not really difficult to do since it doesn't need to be pretty with a flawless mirror surface. All component leads and connector leads should probably be tin coated copper. Ceramic parts is harder, since in this world during my lifetime, it will always need to be handmade via templates and simple punches, and made in batches and verified to be good, but that's okay. Similarly for any metal parts that need to be punched out. Making good cables is difficult, but mainly due to it's hard to draw really fine copper wire, and then it needs to be insulated, but that is doable with lacquer-paint, cloth or paper. I'll try to make machines for that too, especially a cylindrical fabric weaver-knitting-braiding for sleeves, with one of those knitting machines where the bobbins shuttle around, or needles do a wave like motion.
A complicated machine for sure, but the biggest problem is resistors.
For some lower resistance and power values, a carbon rod works, but even that it is rarely a good solution. My goal is ceramic rods coated with a thin carbon surface and ends coated with copper, silver, tin or gold by plating, before mounting durable end conductor leads. Here we have to try two different designs, where one gets punched metal cups with leads attached to the ends, while the other is a longer ceramic rod with strain relief holes in the ends, where leads can be threaded through and get mechanical relief before the lead is wrapped around the plated end of the carbon rod. Maybe there will be some solder in the hole, or just more plating to stick the lead in place and provide good electrical contact. We'll have to experiment. Whatever the ends look like, the next step is to correct the value of the resistor, because what has been created is a form of thin cylindrical carbon rod. By grinding away or cutting the carbon coating, the resistance can be increased from this base value, to get a desired ohm-watt value. Finally, the whole component must be covered to protect it from the environment and mechanical and handling wear during installation and use, and of course the covering must not be electrically conductive. The ceramic rod with leads through holes at the ends already provides some mechanical relief, but the end cup design will be fragile.
Getting the ceramic rods made to exact enough dimensions is relatively easy and we have already ordered a test batch with a few different dimensions and with and without holes, although it will certainly require grinding and hand labour. Coating with carbon in an anaerobic environment is tricky, but I'm hoping wood gas can be used instead of painting on or dipping it in a carbon slurry and letting dry-cure. Coating via wood gas deposits should give more consistent and uniform coating, because the thickness of the coating and the diameter and length of the ceramic rod determine the natural resistance in ohms and watts. After carbon coating is done, the ends of the rod are coated with metal, and should be fairly easy and can be done many at once via fixtures etc. Pressing end cups and attaching conductor leads is not very difficult, just fiddly, and so is pressing on both end cups at the same time, at least if the previous processes gave accurate diameters etc. Similar with attaching conductor leads and winding them up on the through hole version. If the basic resistance value is not useful, then grinding or spiral cutting can give higher ohmic value, and that work should be done with a small automatic machine that measures the ohm during cutting-grinding and when the needle on the moving coil instrument that shows the ohm physically touch the 'set' needle, the machine switches off. Such a machine should be tweakable to produce fairly reliable results and components, fairly quickly.
There will be enormous variation in the finished components, but measuring will always needs to be done on the final component, and thus classification and markings from the measured value. I will try to stick to the normal scale I'm used to, and if enough is produced and sorted, a 5% variation scale might be doable.
The casing is tricky, because just dipping the component in enamel paint or similar doesn't give much mechanical strength or much protection, and I have very limited insulating material. Metal casing connected only to one side will give a capacitor effect, and if it's a spiral cut then the resistor already has a coil value, which is bad enough, so metal is out. The design with lead holes at the ends might be okay with just a protective layer of paper and enamel paint, or a ceramic cylinder is thread over it and sealed in place with enamel paint or similar. The end cup design probably needs strain relief and might be mounted in a ceramic holder-casing, which provide strain relief for the end-cup conductors and then sealed with enamel paint or similar. Kind of like common 'square' white power resistors.
Finally, the component's ohms, watts and preferably manufacturing batch must be printed-painted. I'll try to use the Midgård colour band markings since that is a good system, but that will be a bit hard simply due to limited colour and paint options. It will also be hard to tell colours apart in bad light, like from a candle or oil lantern, which will be the main source of light for a long time. But it is a good system, with all-around readability on a cylindrical component that is small.
I have ordered ceramic rods, holding-casings etc to test, and honestly those parts can be used in many different components, like the ceramic rods can become a small coil with ceramic core, or wire wound resistor etc. The holder-casing can be used to make small open air coils and capacitors, that can be handled and easily marked. But for resistor manufacturing, we need to make fixtures and small machines etc to facilitate manufacturing and give more consistent end results. At the moment I don't care if it is a relatively long manufacturing time for each component, where some processes need to happen overnight. I need some manufacturing of good components in many values and in acceptable quantity-rate, and can scale future production for need. These resistors will be reasonably compact, but a future issue will be to make even physically smaller components, which of course will be more complicated to make. But smaller compact components will give physically more compact final products. The rise and almost complete dominance of surface mounted components since the 1980s is largely what have made modern things compact, along with more integrated circuits and multi layered printed circuit boards.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I like to see Ciara being pleased with her work on the electromagnet and the simple mechanism it powers. It's a rather unnecessary creation that is meant to use time signals to slowly rotate a skewer for roasting-grilling in the kitchen, and each 5 or 10 minute interval give a little ping. Unnecessary, but it should make it easier for the kitchen staff to get consistent roasting and seasoning, and Iselin who has lots of experience from such kitchen work is happy to make things to help our staff. She will definitely participate in its first use, just partially to work out any issues or find improvements, and tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we will probably have roasted beef. We have a lot to celebrate, although Haera etc is hardly something to celebrate.
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I try to avoid make them feel awkward as we take a walk around the big island, partly to spend time together and partly to follow the official story by looking at building sites. It's clear that everyone on the islands now knows about Haera and her life here, and how I see it. They greet us with the usual respect, but we can see the looks that Haera gets, and that Haera needs to focus and steel herself when we meet others. Hopefully it will be easier in the future, but what will be, will be, and is not really my problem more than it have too.
Haera wants her mansion to be built in the same style and manner as ours, and she wants two floors with slightly higher ceilings, and she likes the corridor design and staircase, mezzanine and internal balcony and plenty of large windows. It's airy and different from castles and fortresses. She would like to have similar small dormer windows on the roof because she likes the way it looks, even if there isn't a room inside. She wants to spend silver on a copper roof too, because it's beautiful and gives prestige and reminds people that she may be a woman who betrayed her husband and the realm, but she is still a wealthy Storman of the highest rank, with the respect it deserves. Two storeys plus a large attic like Thrymheim has, also means fewer fireplaces and less copper roofing is needed for a lot of living space. Haera definitely wants windows, and even bigger windows even though it will be fairly expensive, and certainly all the amenities she can get. Fireplaces and centralised steam heating, crystal chandeliers and light, although of course it won't be electric. Well, at least for the near future. Of course cold and hot water and faucets, with good showers, bathroom and sauna, and if possible a private toilet for her bedroom like I have. She wants our good toilets and finally a large greenhouse. Larger than ours. Because a greenhouse gives her something to do, and what the greenhouse produces makes the winter season food so much better. Haera is looking forward to exotic fruits and crops, perhaps from the 'other side' of the world. Haera also wants to have a nice garden. Apparently that is quite common for mansion in the Queendom Damman and in other realms across the water to the south.
Haera tells me that Asbjörn's castle in Borgarsandr will be upgraded once spring comes, and Asbjörn will contact me about installing centralised steam heating in some rooms, and preferably bathrooms with water and showers. Heating and such will of course not be possible to install everywhere, but he wants heating in his normal rooms and halls and preferably guest quarters too. They never really thought about fireplaces before; the smoke, the smell, the air and that someone has to take care of the fire etc. Or the cold by the windows and walls. But after they experienced how it can be, both Asbjörn and she have been so annoyed. During the wedding feast, Asbjörn told me that I have really upheld my words that the Academy buildings will be innovative, comfortable and make life better. They have lived like royalty, but they didn't know it could be so much better and more comfortable, and even though they have talked with rich nobility from far away places, they've never heard of a place like Thrymheim. Warm water when you wanted it to wash your hands or face, and a shower is so easy and can be done whenever you want, by anyone. It's easy for us and our staff to be very clean and tidy. Apparently, they felt bad when they returned to the castle after the autumn auction, but they felt poor and primitive when they returned to the castle after the midwinter wedding. Their daughters agreed. Ulfarna will try to persuade her betrothed Alfvaldr that they should try to improve his castle during the summer and autumn. Since their return from the marriage feast, Sefa has been unusually grumpy and short-tempered, often complaining about how primitive the castle is and cold and dark, and that she wants to live in something like Thrymheim. Once they told her the official story, Sefa stormed off to a friend's mansion. Haera couldn't even say goodbye to her, and just the memory makes Haera teary-eyed.
I suspect it's not just the amenities that have made Sefa cranky, and Sefa sounds like a pain in the butt, especially when she's not in front of guests or they're staying with someone. I'm so glad I won't have to marry her.
We walk and chat about her future home. Haera who is a morning person likes my quick idea that her house is roughly Thrymheim's main building plus small wing where there can be a boiler, the toilets, etc. Maybe a two floor wing with an attic to give the building a L shape. The rest will fit in the main building. She wants her mansion to face more towards the sunrise so her rooms with its large terrace face west or south-west for morning and midday sun. She wants fewer but larger rooms in her mansion, because she will not need for many guest or bedrooms. She only needs an extra bedroom and a guest room, but it will be two or three after I warn her that my plans did not survive the future, and future generations might need more room. And Haera sees a benefit in having a music room and library. It's luxurious to actually able to have rooms just for that, and she do like a large building with many rooms.
Haera likes my suggestion of a large open terrace accessible from the mezzanine instead of her bedroom, because it gives better light and views in the meeting room below her bedroom, and she gets a large sunny area all day, and if we orientate the house a little in a northwest - southeast line, the terrace will be bright from late morning until sunset. Her bedroom might still have a small private balcony just below the roof instead of an attic space like I have. It will only be a few square metres, but she can fit a couple of chairs and a small table and maybe a sofa, and enjoy the sunrise and the view from high up, and that really appeals to her. With a couple of sliding windows and glass under the railing, the balcony will be nicer in spring and autumn, and she can be there even if it's windy or raining. It's an idea she loves, and Haera wants big double glass windows everywhere. Preferably with beautiful stained glass at the top, as many windows on Thrymheim have, and she will think about motifs. I thought about making a balcony for myself when I designed the mansion, but chose a different floor plan, with an external balcony. Haera will invite the best and her favourite people from her estates to come and work for her here. She needs a cook-maid, a maid-servant or two, or perhaps a farmhand to look after the horses, chickens and a few animals that will probably use the shared pastures. She has ordered a nice coach, which is now rather unnecessary, since the coach won't see much use here on the islands, and since she is exiled, she cannot use it to travel to Orusingen or the mainland.
I lower my voice as there is something Iselin and I have thought about, because we don't really have anything against Raneigh who basically just did her job in protecting and keeping secrets, and we need more bodyguards. Haera will want a bodyguard or two, and of course she has guards on her other estates that she'll probably try to offer jobs here, but it might be possible to restore some of Raneigh's reputation if she leaves Haera's service and start to work for me at my mansion or at the Academy. It might take a year or two, but if Raneigh is seen working for us and it becomes known that I hired her, it will help her reputation, and we'll have another competent, skilled warrior that our current bodyguards already like to socialise with. We need more bodyguards.
If any of those who already work on Haera's other estates don't want to come here and be associated so closely with Haera after her fall, she could instead hire a couple of more unknown shieldmaidens. They often have trouble getting work, and if she has trouble getting them to work directly for her, they might accept that they officially work for me on the island, but that they are practically on loan to Haera most of the time, and she pays me. Those shieldmaidens will rotate to other work and also be seen in our company from time to time. Earlier this winter, Kari and Gunhild suggested something, and it is a good excuse that I will only allow armed warriors on the island who are sworn to me or mine, unless it's an important guest, which is honestly a good idea to actually implement. A personal bodyguard might be allowed for Haera or other long stay important people, but lending out guards on rotation to protect property and people should be good.
Haera likes it, and agrees that every warrior being sworn to me is the best idea. It's also much easier to convince shieldmaidens or male warriors to make a life here with that job description and duty. Haera does feel some anxiety and guilt about how it all has affected Raneigh and Skirlaug. How it has messed up Skirlaug's upcoming marriage, and she may have a hard time hiring new bodyguards right away. Any male bodyguards who are interested in serving her with her current reputation, are not men she wants around her.
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