Making your own Geiger tubes - A work in progress

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Richard Hull
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Real name: Richard Hull

Making your own Geiger tubes - A work in progress

Post by Richard Hull »

I will start a rolling thread here on my effort to make GM tubes. As a practical point it is always much smarter to purchase NOS manufactured GM tubes for reliable operation. By the same token It is always smarter to "not' make your own fusor at home. But...who is always smart? Many of us have an incurable case of the hands-on imperative and think, perhaps unwisely, "I can do that". Like fusion at home, I will try my hand at GM tube making.

As practicing fusioneers, we have the vacuum systems, we know about gas handling to a limited degree and if we can fashion a nuclear fusion reactor vessel, handle high voltages and do a bit of electronics, what is there to making a GM tube? I have read extensively on the subject for many years. I feel I have finally over come the rest inertia of a 75 year old to monkey with the GM tube issue.

What is needed:
1. A vacuum system that can go to at least 10 microns. No diff or turbo demanded.
2. A source of Argon or Neon gas (Korff recommends not using 999 argon but instead junk tank argon)
3. Some tungsten wire of slim W rod stock
4. Some sort of sealed tube that can hold gas at 50-100 torr but can be evacuated to 10 microns (metal tubes need to be internally passivated)
5. A quenching agent (the choices are many)
6. A 0-2000 volt positive DC supply
7. Simple junk electronics nothing real special unless you wish to head that way.
8. Several simple valves with linked tubing

This was a basic introduction.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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