Demo Fusor II :First Light

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Ed Meserve
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Real name: Ed Meserve
Location: Maine, USA

Demo Fusor II :First Light

Post by Ed Meserve »

Greetings all,
I am reporting the successful first light of my demo fusor. From this point I plan on upgrading the fusor to fusion capable specs.

I cut a hole for the feedthrough and drilled blind holes to thread for the connection. I was a little ham fisted with tapping threads for the electrical feed through (the threads were crooked) but after purchasing a tapping alignment tool, I was able to get them in nice and straight.
Demo Fusor II, in Operation
Demo Fusor II, in Operation
Close-up of Plasma
Close-up of Plasma
Ed Meserve
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Richard Hull
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Re: Demo Fusor II :First Light

Post by Richard Hull »

Good work. You got the nice glow of a basic Demo fusor.

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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Ed Meserve
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Real name: Ed Meserve
Location: Maine, USA

Re: Demo Fusor II :First Light

Post by Ed Meserve »

Hi Folks, please consider this my application to the Plasma Club.

The chamber is a 6" Conflat Tee with adapters to 4.5" for the viewport and 2.75" for vacuum port. The electrical feedthrough I mounted through a 6" blank I purchased.
The vacuum pump is a Welch 1400 and the power supply is an iron core NST rated 15kV on the secondary. The vacuum gauge is an MKS 901P Load Lock Transducer. This gauge can be read serially over RS-232 or via an analog voltage signal. I opted for the simpler analog signal. At the moment I don't have complete faith in the acuracy of the Ebay Loadlock gauge due to lack of reference, but I have confidence in the relative accuracy of the voltage and current reading as I have a fluke 6kV probe and a fluke 787 Process meter.

Construction details can be found in my previous post, here:
viewtopic.php?t=13458


At the time of the selfie, the voltage was about 900V, current was 10mA, and the pressure was at 125mTorr.
Meserve Fusor Selfie
Meserve Fusor Selfie
Photo of Plasma at time of Selfie
Photo of Plasma at time of Selfie
Photo of Meters at time of Selfie
Photo of Meters at time of Selfie
It took 10 minutes from Atm to 25 mtorr when the plasma extinguished. Below is just before the plasma extinguished; when this image was taken, the plasma wasn't visible by eye, but was through the camera, kinda in the same way you can record the flash pattern of a TV remote IR LED.
Almost Extinguished Plasma
Almost Extinguished Plasma
Gauges just before Plasma Extinguished
Gauges just before Plasma Extinguished
Ed Meserve
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Mark Rowley
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Re: Demo Fusor II :First Light

Post by Mark Rowley »

Looks great Ed. Congrats on this important milestone.

Mark Rowley
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Richard Hull
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Re: Demo Fusor II :First Light

Post by Richard Hull »

Welcome to the plasma club, Ed. I have logged you in.

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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Dennis P Brown
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Real name: Dennis Brown

Re: Demo Fusor II :First Light

Post by Dennis P Brown »

Nice work making those detectros and displays. Congrats on the plasma club. Great first step towards the neutron club, too.
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