Fusor Forums

this is my first post on this forum. thiss is the first runn of my fusor thst i hsvr brrn building through lockdown.
i dont have anny deuterium at the moment becauls i cant buy it in the uk.
i am useing an edwards rv5 rotary vein pump, LeCroy HV4032A high voltage power suply at 3.3KV 10ma and i was going to use a leybold thermovac TTR100 S2 but i acsedently let the smoke out when i was setting up by connecting the supply backwards.
i am pretty new to this and i would like to learn as much as possible so please leave anny tips or questions.

fusor on 06/08/2021

Nice collection of goodies. You are getting there.

Richard Hull

Excellent pic's of your plasma/grid in your future fusor chamber.

Well, you are already are learning via hard won experience - making mistakes (recoverable - i.e. you survive it.) Besides deuterium, of course you need a proper high voltage power supply (buy, build?) Also, a neutron detection system will, at some point, be required - either for direct measure of neutrons or indirect via activation. Certainly something to consider.

In the meantime, you have an excellent vacuum system and lower voltage supply to do vacuum work. Certainly getting into the Plasma Club would be trivial - just give the required details, use existing photo and apply.

Next you should focus (if you haven't already) on the high vacuum required - i.e. get your diffusion pump on the system and running. Looking for any leaks and using the required vacuum instrumentation is useful work to get ready for a fusor system as well. Adding a proper adjustable gate valve so your device will be able to efficiently use deuterium (once you get it) will be very important.

These are suggestions to pursue but I'm sure there are many other things to do. For instance, if you get heavy water, converting it into deuterium gas is a interesting and complex task. If you manage a gas cylinder/lecture bottle (maybe a nearby university/college would help you in that effort - doesn't hurt to call and ask), creating the feed control system is also critical.

I am looking at geting a 30kv 10ma supply that i found. And i have also got a diffusion pump but i need to machine the flange for it becauls it has some weard propiotary flange. I need to get a high vacuum guage tho, i am looking at geting an edwards aim guage. And i am curently desighning a controal system to fit into a 19" rack that will controal pumps, guages, valves and coolant flow.

I dont know much about neutron detection and i dont reely know where to start.

Also what is the plasla club? Ive never heard of it before.

Many of us who are in the neutron club first started off with the Plasma Club (i.e. me.) This is a club that is far easier to join - see:

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=13

The main requirement is ability to measure system pressure accurately (besides voltage and current but your device does that already.) You need accurate measurement for the pressure in your chamber. Again, read the requirements at the link.

As for your diffusion pump - so many have had the same problem (I as well) but you certainly have the ability to handle it. Just remember to have a design that allows a gate valve at some point. Making sure your new system can hold proper vacuum under high vac is an important step towards a fusor.

Neutron detection is the critical part to prove your fusor is, well, fusing. Activation can be a cheaper route but can be difficult unless your fusor produces a lot of neutrons. Many use He-3 detectors and similar devices but their is a big learning curve unless one buys a turn-key system.

We have an entire topic area devoted to neutron detection. Read the extensive FAQ's on that first; maybe search topics that interest you. Then after you learn a bit, you can ask questions and people here will help you.

Sounds like you have the attitude and verve needed to make it all the way. Stay on the path. It took me three years 1996-1999 to do fusion. I had no help and no website of experienced individuals to guide me. your are lucky. Take the baby steps and the goal will come in time.

Richard Hull

This is my aplication to join the plasma club.

The power suply that i am using is a LeCroy HV4032A witch can suply 3.3KV at 2.5MA pere chanel and by conecting 4 channels in parelel it can suply 10MA. The amp meter is inline with the high voltage suply to give a readout of the curent draw while operating the fusor. The guage is an Edwards atc-e thermocouple guage with an atc-m thermocouple head witck gives out a sygnal fron 2 to 10v dc witch can be converted to pressure by useing the graph shown in fig 2. The vacuum pump used is an Edwards RV5. Curently i have the gump and guage set up so that it is controaled by the set point on the vacuum guage so that it maintaind a vacuum leavel that i set by useing a rasberiy pi running node red with a couple of relays. Eventualy this will ew swaped for a national instruments PXi system running labview to controal the vacuum system and perform data aquisition. The inner grid is curently made from coper wire that has been silver solderd together as ilustrated in fig 3, eventualy this will be swapped for tungsten wite.

Hopefuly this ts enough to get me into the plasma club so that i can begin working towards makeing first fusion.

A massive thank you to all of the people who have helped me out with this project so far.
fig 1

fig 2

fig 3

Great pix and listing of gear. However you are supposed to give all the Running data related to the photo... voltage at the time,..... pressure at the time and.... current at the time. This shows us your have the gear and can read it while running the demo fusor. All the gear in the world is worthless if you can't give the operational running condition data to interested, knowledgeable observers under which the image was taken. Something needed in real fusion operation, later. Give us this info and you are in the plasma club and a true working member of the fusor.net team. "A doer"

Note: we would love a picture of you beside your gear as mentioned in the rules, but we can let that slide if all the key requirements are met, if you are a shy guy.

Richard Hull

ok i will gather the data once i have a chance to.

I'd like to add that with your future power supply (30 kV and 10 ma) you are very likely to be able to activate silver using your fusor. Read up on that and once you get deuterium gas, and I'll bet that you can (using a Geiger Counter or scintillation counter) get proof of fusion via your neutrons converting Ag into nuclear decay producing gamma's.

fusor voltage current pressure corilation graph.

at the time of makeing the graph the current on the power suply was set to a maximum of 6.3mA

Rather grossly over done but accepted. We usually only demand a single image of your grid with the rays or glow, a simple statement of "this image was taken at 1600 volts applied with a current of 7ma at a pressure of 11 microns." That is all that was needed. We already had an image of your instrumentation to show you had the means to report on the three variables.

You are now in the Plasma club.

Richard Hull

Interesting measurements. It would be nice If you can supply the geometrical data for the chamber and the cathode. I'm quite surprised with the breakdown voltages you have. They are much higher compared to my results: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13921

The iner grid is 21mm outside diameter and made of 1mm coper wire that has been silver solderd together. And the chamber is a kf 50 tee section witch is 48mm inside diamiter and 160mm long. i find it strange what is going on at 1×10^-1 mbar between 300 and 700V. I re tried it at those values a fiew times and got the same results.

Hi Byron,

I liked your workshop collection.

Great Job for Amazing Star-Mode

Good Luck Dear

Ali Hassan

Congratulations on making the plasma club; hope you can get some heavy water. Do consider talking to a local university/college and maybe they have some and would supply it knowing what you are doing.
By the way, the 30 kV 10 ma supply will produce x-rays and you really need to think about what safety precautions you will need for that supply. It is highly lethal and easily can burn through marginal insulation so be careful on proper cable - I had a cable rated for 35 kV and my supply can reach 33 kV. Bad mistake - no real margin and it burned through and shorted to the concrete floor! Not an easy repair (the cable.) I treat this cable as a potential electrocution hazard and isolate it.

I'm going to use some roofing lead as a temporary solution and I've just ordered a Geiger counter. with the high voltage power supply I have some good cable rated to 50kv still looking for some propper connectors tho. that's not a bad Idea asking colleges and universities for deuterium ile ask the physics department at the one I go to if they can get any.

Slate is available from major hardware stores - is inexpensive, does not conduct electricity, easy to cut/drill and is safe (lead is toxic and should be painted to reduce dust issues.) Of course, doesn't bend so that might be the deciding issue.

Does slate stop x-rays I’ve never heard of it being used for stopping x-rays before. I have worked with lead a lot before and know how to use it safely.

Yes, Slate will attenuate X rays, but it will need to be thicker, which it usually is. There is nothing magic about lead except that it's massive.

I still work with lead and cadmium in castings. Worked with the stuff for years. Let the stuff melt outside and only then approach, do your business with the molten metal and let that be it. A mask helps on big prolonged casting efforts, but I tend to shun masks when doing real involved stuff. As far as the hands? No gloves. Just wash up well after you put all the materials away. Other than for casting hundreds of bullets, I rarely work with lead-antimony alloys much anymore. Cadmium demanded for low melting point alloys, which I sell, is getting tough to find. Roto metals sells cadmium but it is not on their long list of metals on the home page. A call to them will get you all you want.

Be very serious about this stuff only if you work in a job where it is molten all the time. I have always failed to see the ridiculous overwhelming concern for rare and highly intermittent handling of these things, especially as relates to simple radiation shielding.