I was just pondering on the idea, could a used fire extinguisher be used and modified to fit the role of the vacuum chamber for a fusor.
Thanks
Zeke
Fire extinguisher vacuum chamber
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Dennis P Brown
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 10:46 am
- Real name: Dennis Brown
Re: Fire extinguisher vacuum chamber
Simple answer: no.
Ignoring cleaning issues (not trivial) a fusor (even a demo) require a number of access ports, at the very least. Converting a random piece of metal tubing like a fire extinguisher would require a great deal of work - metal cutting (for ports), welding required port assemblies, and then addition of vacuum accessories (even the threaded section isn't very useful - wrong design for high vacuum work.) Considering these efforts and cost of components, such a project just to bring this sad item up to usefulness, as far as I can see, offers no upside. Getting a piece of clean steel tubing would make far more sense if one really wanted to try and construct such a complex device and they are not concerned about the cutting and welding issues.
If one is just trying to use the existing single access point with no further processing, not a good idea - again, issues with the end thread. However, the point of most fusors is to create a device that offers usefulness - the ability to see the plasma (critical for proper control) and a way to install the essential equipment used to control various parameters. A heavy steel cylinder like that is just a dead end in that case.
As I tell most newbie's here, get a 50 mm diameter std. 4-way cross and build off of that. The extra cost is far out weighed by the ease of adding required accessories since one should already have a decent two stage pump (absolute min. requirement to start any serious fusor type project.)
Ignoring cleaning issues (not trivial) a fusor (even a demo) require a number of access ports, at the very least. Converting a random piece of metal tubing like a fire extinguisher would require a great deal of work - metal cutting (for ports), welding required port assemblies, and then addition of vacuum accessories (even the threaded section isn't very useful - wrong design for high vacuum work.) Considering these efforts and cost of components, such a project just to bring this sad item up to usefulness, as far as I can see, offers no upside. Getting a piece of clean steel tubing would make far more sense if one really wanted to try and construct such a complex device and they are not concerned about the cutting and welding issues.
If one is just trying to use the existing single access point with no further processing, not a good idea - again, issues with the end thread. However, the point of most fusors is to create a device that offers usefulness - the ability to see the plasma (critical for proper control) and a way to install the essential equipment used to control various parameters. A heavy steel cylinder like that is just a dead end in that case.
As I tell most newbie's here, get a 50 mm diameter std. 4-way cross and build off of that. The extra cost is far out weighed by the ease of adding required accessories since one should already have a decent two stage pump (absolute min. requirement to start any serious fusor type project.)