trouble locating a suitable vacuum chamber

[Ian_B]

Richard,

Your comment about how this might cost a considerable amount caught my attention, do you have any alternative suggestions on good places to obtain a decent vacuum chamber?

I was considering fabricating one using the specifications shown in the following link:
http://www.rtftechnologies.org/physics/ ... sphere.htm

but the cost to purchase the materials and then machine them would be significant; approximately $651 plus the cost to machine and weld them. It would be an awesome vacuum chamber though

I'd love to keep writing but i have to run now

~Ian

[Nanos]

I wonder how suitable a beer keg might be, depending on which country your in you may need to get permission from the final owner to use it for that purpose.

As I heard they come in both aluminum and stainless steel varieties.

I don't know how suitable one would be vacuum wise, but they do look fairly strong..

Myself, I picked up a $10 glass bell jar thanks to a local university having a clearout, and whilst not ideal is something to get me started with.

I had pondered that a milk churn or perhaps even a beer keg could work well as an implosion shield over my glass bell jar, and then wondered if the beer keg might actually do for a fusor chamber itself..


Thoughts and opinions as always welcomed on my comments!

[Mike Veldman]

Have you considered when you get back to school doing a little scrounging? Talk to a professor/researcher using vacuum fixtures or someone in the fabrication shop about what might be sitting in a closet somewhere. Talk to them about your ideas and projects, many of them/us are big curious kids that love to make things. I have students from several departments other than my own sit in my office and talk about their off the wall to some of the other staff pipe dreams. I seem to be kind of a magnet for this sort of thing, word gets around. I frequently allow students to use stuff, give them stuff, borrow from another departments junk pile for them on semipermanent loan, even give them stuff from my home scrounge pile. Semipermanent loan means if they "ever" ask for it back I have to comply because some things belong to the state and have to be sold or kept forever as in the case of government surplus. What I'm saying is for the most part a university is populated by many (not all) people that love to help other people learn, and have rooms full of good usable stuff just participating in the flow of gravity. Let the word out that you're scrounging to build something to learn with and you may be overloaded with offers of good junque. At least it won't hurt to talk a little or ask.

mike

[Larry Upjohn]

Well this 8" tee was won by an ebay seller who deals in vacuum systems for 137.00USD. Looked like it needed one 8" inch conflat blank to seal it off and it had some sort of ceramic feedthrough on one of the smaller conflats. I can see why it might have worked. Larry Upjohn.

[Ian_B]

thats a good idea and I will definitely do some scrounging on campus, our science department is a little weak so I'm not sure how much good stuff will get turned up but I do know some of the professors conduct research/work other places and might be able to give me some good contacts outside of school as well.

Thanks for the advice,
~Ian

[Verp]

I was in the thrift store the other day looking at a stock pot, thinking it looked a lot like a stainless steel bell jar.

Rod

[Nanos]

I was looking at BBQ sets the other day and noticed one of these, I wonder what its made out of;

http://www.uberreview.com/wp-content/up ... %20bbq.jpg

[johnp]

I think the one we have is some kind of enameled steel. There's rust around a few spots.

My dad had a spiffy aluminum one way back when.

Nanos wrote:
> I was looking at BBQ sets the other day and noticed one of these, I wonder what its made out of;
>
> http://www.uberreview.com/wp-content/up ... %20bbq.jpg

[eosraptor]

Hi, I just discovered this home-brew fusion group and joined. I have a vacuum chamber you can walk in but it is not for sale. Do you have a fusion project started ??? Andrew