Vacuum Chamber Construction

[Nicolas Krause]

I've now completed machining of the ports for the vacuum chamber. Up next is an order to lds vacuum for the remaining parts I need and some practice welding.

[ian_krase]

That is a lot of holes.

[Richard Hull]

I mentioned that before above....An awfully hole filled chamber. Lots of CF stubs and lots of blank offs unless you are shooting for ion guns aplenty. At least he won't be at a loss for hassle free "add ons", if needed, in future.

On page two Nicolas gives a full, optimistic, listing of what is planned for each port. Until they are all in place, that means blank offs during early work.

Richard Hull

[ian_krase]

In the excellent but extremely grognardy and complicated Kerbal Space Program mod KSP Interstellar, we see this fusion reactor, which appears to be a fusor-type reactor with ion guns.



This makes me think of it.

[Nicolas Krause]

While I source the final vacuum components for my chamber I figured I could work a bit on the pressure sensor. I've got a vacuum thermocouple gauge, and a spare Tiva C series board lying around. I figured I would use one to monitor the other, I've been planning on picking up Forth for awhile and this seemed like a good project to start with. Mecrisp is a publicly available version that supports my board so I'm working on getting a connection made to the board.

[Nicolas Krause]

This is an end of summer update. My purchase from LDS vacuum arrived at the end of July, and I now have the necessary hardware to complete the vacuum chamber. While I had intended to complete the welding by the end of August, getting setup for TIG welding has taken longer than anticipated (as always seems to be the case). The local makerspace does not have a TIG welder, and I've had to turn to other means. I've purchased a small TIG machine on Amazon from HitBox, and while it turns on, sourcing all the other components, such as TIG electrodes, a small bottle of Argon gas, a regulator, 220V dryer plug adapter, has been an education in and of itself. Its taken me the whole month of August to obtain all the bits, sharpen the electrodes, find a bottle supplier, get the bottle filled etc... I'm returning to school this Tuesday and will have to pack away the hardware for the summer. This means I'll likely return to work on my simulation when time allows, and hopefully at Christmas I'll be able to find some time to work on welding of the chamber. I'll be on a co-op term from January to April so ideally I'll be able to complete the chamber after work hours during the winter.

[ian_krase]

Where are you doing your welding? Do you own a house with a garage, or do it somewhere else, or what?

[Nicolas Krause]

I don't own a house unfortunately, I had planned on appropriating the dryer plugin in my parent's laundry room and running an extension cable outside through a window so I didn't have to worry about the fumes/gas. The welding machine I've bought is quite small and portable so it shouldn't cause too much of an issue. If I'm welding in the winter I'll look at heading to the local makerspace with my setup as I believe they're wired for 220v and have a large ventilated bay.

[Nicolas Krause]

Just a short update, I've managed to get the mecrisp-stellaris version of forth loaded onto my board and am now monkeying around with the language in my spare time!

[Nicolas Krause]

After completing another semester of school in Victoria, I'm now on an 8 month co-op in Edmonton. I've joined the local makerspace and setup my TIG welder for the first time tonight. I'm currently practicing on some scraps of steel I've got lying around, and boy do I need it! I'll probably keep practicing until I feel comfortable and then go ahead and start welding the components of my vacuum chamber. At the moment I've got a lot to learn, and I'm just trying to get better at controlling the puddle.