Reversed valves so that they maintained a vacuum. A large chamber filled with a sponge can produce the humidity necessary to form condensation nuclei. Large chamber with sponge was an unreliable source of humidity. Decided to epoxy blotter paper directly to inside of metal pipes. Added a inlet cap to monitor humidity and to rehumidify the chamber.
New system is much more reliable.
Completed instrument weighs slightly more than 15 pounds. Obtained scrap plywood to secure instrument to plywood board, making it sturdy and safe. Our original prototype for this machine did not prove to operate within this degree of accuracy, so we made several improvements in an attempt to improve the precision of the instrument. Our third hypothesis was to use only commonly available components to construct the machine. We reached this goal by using only commercially available parts and no custom made or exotic pieces.