SOCIETY OF AMATEUR SCIENTISTS-VACUUM PRESENTATION (FROM RANEY)

[raneyt]

Guys,

Hope you are all doing well. You are probably aware that the Society of Amateur Scientists had their annual amateur science conference in January 2005.

So, if you go to: http://www.sas.org, you’ll find the various presentations online. Click on the 'January 2005 conference' link.

One of the best presentations is on vacuum technology for amateurs by Mr. Steve Hansen (Hi Steve!).

This is a great vacuum presentation with practical information, tips & references. I encourage all to take a look. It’s a 21MB file, so it may be slow to load for some folks. Honest, it’s worth the wait.

There’s also another presentation that covers sodium migration in borosilicate glass and is another good presentation. It gives some insight & hints, if you do your own glass-working for vacuum systems.

Warm Regards,

TIM RANEY

[SteveHansen]

Hi Tim,

I wasn't even aware that the conference presentations were posted! Thanks for the feedback and I must say that there was a tremendous amount of good stuff at the conference. This was the third but the first one that I have attended. The next is planned for the summer of 2006 in the general viscinity of Boston.

Steve

[Richard Hull]

Nice Stuff!! Good work Steve!

For those who are new or aren't aware, Steve started the Bell Jar publication. It is was a vaccum journal for amateurs with experiments, reports, etc. I subscribed from day one until the paper Journal was discontinued.

Steve was planning a CD of back issues. I hope that is still in the works as those who missed the regular issues will miss out on a lot of good vacuum data and vacuum projects and experiments.

Many of us approach the fusor with a particular skill in a particular area already well honed. Some of us approach with the major skill plus additional skills needed for the fusor effort, but perhaps not as completely in hand.

Vacuum technique is certainly a major skill needed to be understood if one is to operate a fusor. Obtianing a working knowledge of vacuum procedures will open up a lot of other scientific avenues, as well.

When it comes to vacuum, Steve is da' man.

Richard Hull

[SteveHansen]

Hi Richard,

First, to clear up one remark, tBJ is coming back and soon. I've got the "hanging chad" issue just about done (the one that completes the last full volume) and will be taking subscriptions for the balance of 2005 really soon. As for the CD of back issues, I have been selling the first 5 volumes as a printed book and the next 5 as individual issues. The printed originals are getting toward end of life and I'm going to have to reformat each page for my current laser printer. Rather than doing that, when the time comes the reformat will be in Acrobat and then I'll supply disks.

Some new things will be some custom glass chamber kits and I will have a vacuum forum up and running (it's formatted, just really need to turn the switch).

Finally, I'm trying to figure out how SAS turned my 3 MB PowerPoint into a 21 MB Acrobat file. Didn't think it was supposed to work that way.

[Richard Hull]

Steve,

I prefer the print versions anyway. Good to hear the last issue is under way. Make sure that if the print version subscription gets cranked again that you notify all your old subscribers (like me) to pony up for the coming issues.

Richard Hull