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FAQ - Fusor Construction Journey in images from the beginning #4

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 9:47 am
by Richard Hull
1998 - 2004 Fusor III

Fusor III was the first amateur fusor to do fusion in February 1999. The visual story involves over 22 photos! Most are video grabs off of my 2 hour long DVD video made in 2000 entitled "Doing fusion".

Fusor III's story is for the most part told in the heavily labeled images to follow.

Everything was replaced in fusor III there are no carry over parts from fusor I or II. This was to be a fusing system, and it was. The key thing is that I invested heavily, dollar wise, in a number of new tools and gear. I realized, it was time to get gravely serious! This was to mean serious money. I was determined to do all the work myself. This meant a huge learning curve was ahead on the mechanical front. To get fusor III off the ground here is the initial outlay.

New Lincoln combo arc-TIG welder $1400
Large used milling machine $1000
vacuum fittings, gas fittings, 6-inch SS hemispheres, vacuum specific valves, etc. $1000

One of the most stupid moves was to purchase two heavy SS 10" Steam pipe blanks offs from a local scrap yard for $20. I would quickly learn that my labor in turning them into suitable fusor flanges would work out to about 41 cents/hour as a machinist for the $20 spent. If I learned a lot from Fusor I and II, I would have far more to learn with fusor III. As it turned out, there were to be a fusor IIIa and a fusorIIIb made with the same chamber!!

There was lathe work, milling work, welding work and a lot of rather precision fitting required. As I had done a bit of this work with fusors I and II. It went a good deal faster than I thought, thanks to a well planned attack of the construction path.

In addition, during this period, the "Perfesser" launched his Farnsworth fusor segment on Songs.com. The early postings by others and myself created an exciting environment which spurred me on.

After looking at the pretty images below, go here for the next step in my fusor journey, fusor IV.

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=13055

Here are the images.

Richard Hull