Hello from Texas (Yosef Herrera)

[Yosef Herrera]

Good Evening,


My name is Yosef Herrera and I am currently a Senior in High School. I want to first start by apologizing for not introducing myself earlier( as I have viewed the forum for years and registered years ago) and explaining what has brought me to such a late introduction. I have always been into fusion, and from a very young age, I was inspired by Taylor Wilson to produce my own fusor. I always had a passion for nuclear sciences and it allowed me to spend 2 weeks in a Super magnet lab where I was able to work on the superconductors for an electron Ion collider bid ( as much as a rising 6th grader could). I attempted to construct a fusor with Professors at various universities in my state but was constantly met with opposition at the fact that I was under the age of 18, not a student, or they did not have the lab space to have an operating Farnsworth fusor. As I am a high schooler with a small budget I have been slowly collecting parts for a fusor over the last couple of years such as an RV5 pump, an Eo 50/60 pump, XRT/precipitator supply, and various CF and KF fittings, and in the coming months I plan on finally completing my years-long goal by doing fusion in a 2.75 conflat cross. I haven't posted simply because I was merely buying and wasn't experimenting( except for constructing the make magazine demo fusor), but I hope to change that. Additionally, I have been rather occupied with my other passions such as law which gave the opportunity to serve in the U.S Senate as a Senate Page( fall '23) and an American Legion Boys Nation Senator ('24). Attached is a picture of the stand for my fusor and some of the parts I have along with the make magazine demo fusor which I built freshman year.

[Dennis P Brown]

Hello and welcome. Glad your have an active academic life.

Your demo fusor is a nice build. Guess you are considering a real fusor. Of course you realize you need a real fusor metal chamber for safety and ability to add necessary detectors/inlets/access ports.

Your vacuum pump should be fully able to provide enough vacuum for an operating fusor. Also, see you have a HV feed-thru. All good starts. A proper chamber and correct vacuum gauges should be your next purchases/builds.

Look forward to your continued work/posts.