The X-Ray image thread by Aurora - various electronics via X-Ray imaging

[Fraser]

Winstar LCD very close up. Still no sign of any bond wires under the black epoxy blob.

[Fraser]

New PT100 'patch' sensor for my ultrasonic cleaner.

If you download the last two images and zoom in you can clearly see the platinum film resistor 

[tszaboo]

Can we get images of items that people usually take on an airplane? Phone, power bank, passport, electric razer, pens, headphones and such? Awesome thread btw. thank you.

[Fraser]

NANDBlog,

Can I ask why you would want to see such please ?

I have worked in the technical security arena all my working life and I get a little nervous when people want to see what an airport X-Ray scanner can, or more importantly, cannot see. Call me paranoid, but we live in a pretty evil world these days.

As for an X-Ray of my passport..... Hmmmm I will see what my machine shows before deciding to upload it. UK passports may contain some security features that I would not want to publish (beyond the Biometric Prox)

Fraser

[CatalinaWOW]

While I am fairly confident that Nandblogs questions reflect curiosity, I share and support your concerns about posting such things on a public forum.  No reason to make the path easier for the dark hearts out there.

[Fraser]

It is so sad that we have to think like this but recent events with the mysterious loss of the Air Egypt flight does make me very careful when asked about airline security systems and what they can detect or see.

Such a sad state of affairs and sadly we must live with such until the threat is dealt with.

Fraser

[tszaboo]

NANDBlog,

Can I ask why you would want to see such please ?

I have worked in the technical security arena all my working life and I get a little nervous when people want to see what an airport X-Ray scanner can, or more importantly, cannot see. Call me paranoid, but we live in a pretty evil world these days.

As for an X-Ray of my passport..... Hmmmm I will see what my machine shows before deciding to upload it. UK passports may contain some security features that I would not want to publish (beyond the Biometric Prox)

Fraser

Curiosity. I am almost sure there must be some metal in a passport. I am just wondering how much do they actually see. I also wonder how much data NSA might have about me. Must be something, since I left my fingerprint on the US border.
I dont have any nefarious reasons. Ignore my request if you dont feel comfortable with it.

[Fraser]

Nandblog,

I do not tend to ignore people's requests but some areas of curiosity are also of interest to people without your innocent motives.

UK Biometric passports contain counter copying technology and a proximity chip that contains certain biometric data. More than that I am not willing to say.

Fingerprints are taken at borders and run through a 'persons of interest' database. The fingerprint may be saved by some Countries depending upon the local laws on Data Protection. Your finger print is a non invasive way to make you unique in a database. It helps to prevent people travelling on false papers, no matter how convincing the forgeries.

Alternative biometric data sources are DNA testing and Retina scanning but both are unpopular with the public. Facial mapping is also an option. Fingerprints are quick and easy. Even my iPad AIR2 reads my fingerprint as part of its security system.

There is a saying and it honestly applies in this case..... If you have done nothing illegal or harmful to the country you reside in or are entering, you have nothing to fear. Some will disagree with that statement but thankfully that is their prerogative

Fraser

[SeanB]

Fraser, you will almost likely never image that capacitor easily, as it is a very thin polycarbonate film, almost totally transparent to Xray, and the metallised film is so thin it might as well almost not be there.

With your thin film sensor, you can see the 2 trims done to it to get it up to the correct resistance, there are 3 adjustment points where they shunted out the foil in sections, and the laser trims do show up on the bottom. They must make them with etching after sputtering, and control the thickness carefully.

[mikeselectricstuff]

UK Biometric passports contain counter copying technology and a proximity chip that contains certain biometric data. More than that I am not willing to say.

If there are features that rely on their secrecy for security, that is very worrying. Security by obscurity doesn't have much of a track record....

[Fraser]

The latest addition to my X-Ray equipment inventory is a new or 'as new' Trophy (now Kodak Carestream) high resolution Digipan X-Ray camera array.

The Digipan camera array is a cartridge that is used in place of the film cassette in panoramic Dental X-Ray machines. Thankfully the version I bought is flat and not the curved version. The array has an active surface of approximately 120mm x 240mm which is twice the width of my MX-20 array 

From what I can discover, the Digipan contains two 120mm x 120mm X-Ray imaging arrays, most probably Hamamatsu panels, but I have yet to discover what resides inside the cassette so this is all supposition. 

There is the problem of driving the camera array but if the modules are, as I expect, COTS products, I may be able to find enough data to drive them with a PC. Some of what I have discovered about the unit suggests that it is USB communications to the Host PC, but again, I need to confirm this myself.

These cost around £10K so it was a decent buy for me for just £100 

Once I have the unit in my hands, the investigation will begin. I have a working Gendex dental X-Ray generator to illuminate the Digipan if the MX-20 beam is too confined.

Fraser

[mikeselectricstuff]

I also have another x-ray system on the way later this week.... stay tuned!

[Fraser]

Excellent 

I love my X-Ray capability and would not be without it now.

I have been watching a couple of Todd Research BASIX-30 bag scanners as their prices dropped over the weeks that they have been listed. I stripped mine down and scrapped it. They are now selling for around £800 which is pretty good for a £15k machine. Sadly the image capture system is quite old fashioned and uses a small CCTV camera feeding a frame grabber. That limits the resolution. The best recent ebay offering was the unit that Toploser gave a home to. Very nice indeed, but sadly I had to pass on financial grounds and my wife would have gone nuts if another X-Ray machine arrived   

Glad you found another X-Ray machine to use as I know you wanted one with a larger array.

Fraser

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'm still on the lookout for a decent size panel detector.
The unit I'm getting is a dental CT scanner which is being scrapped as the tube is nearly dead and they were quoted 20K to replace. Sensor looks similar to a slice of the one in my Faxitron.
http://www.scanco.ch/en/systems-solutions/specimen/microct40.html

[Fraser]

Mike,

I have a working X-Ray tube from the Todd Research Basix-30. It is a Toshiba product but no idea whether it could be adapted to fit your machine.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Just thought, the TR Basix-30 did not use a micro focus tube so likely is not good enough for your CT unit 

Fraser

[Fraser]

SeanB

Thanks for the comments.

I will X-Ray just a mylar capacitor and see how the MX-20 copes. It is pretty sensitive to even low density materials but when there are both high and low density materials mixed, it makes life a bit harder 

Fraser

[Fraser]

OK, here is the film capacitor that I have removed from the Fluoro starter unit. It is far easier to image when away from the starter casing and glass thermo switch.

First some visible pictures to provide context.

The X-Ray images show the film section of the capacitor and even the air pockets in the resin encapsulation.

Fraser

[Fraser]

I removed the controller PCB from my Ultrawave Hydrea ultrasonic cleaner so that I could identify all I/O port circuits.

As can be seen, X-Ray makes it reasonably easy to trace the PCB tracks around I/O ports and other parts of the pcb.

Fraser

[Fraser]

More....

[Fraser]

More......

[Fraser]

Last two of the Ultrasonic controller PCB.

[NivagSwerdna]

Thanks for the Chip & Pin images 

[Fraser]

A couple of non electronic samples now.

I found some corn and a tree branch today so thought I would X-Ray them to see what shows on the images.

The MX-20 is designed to image animal and vegetable matter so this is not that unusual a sample for it. Farmers and production companies look at the corn to see if there are infestations or issues with grain quality.

Fraser

[Fraser]

More corn