Your coveted future lab - tips and fusor VI...?

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Richard Hull
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Your coveted future lab - tips and fusor VI...?

Post by Richard Hull »

I have not run fusor V since December. I have spent a lot of time lately getting my "wood lab" in order.

I am often called upon to do wood work...(personal and honey do's). I have been doing this in my fusor/HEAS/science/metal working lab. Many of you have seen and been inside my big lab. It is crowded and loaded to say the least!!!

Nothing is worse than to have saw dust and wood debris in a science lab. A science lab is a place where experiments are done and assembled. Metal is shaped to assist in the assembly of all manner of science work. As such, about 4 years ago I bought and had moved to my yard a pre-built, portable building of 24X12 feet to be used solely as a wood working area. I moved all my woodworking tools in to it in a more or less rapid and slip-shod manner. I also moved my HOn3 model railroading efforts to a "shelf" type layout to run at a height of 5.5 feet above the floor. Within 1 year I had more of less left the area stagnant save for emergency wood working efforts and projects.

I was determined this spring to "neaten" the place up and make it far more serviceable as a "wood lab". As with all labs, a high level of organization was necessary. Optimal utilization of space was a key factor, not thought of in the rush to fill the new building with wood related tools 3 years ago.

Dennis Brown gave a good look at his build a couple of years ago. I submit this photo essay as a way of looking how to organize and prepare for a useful lab interior with space utilization as a main maxim. Some of you may have a small garage space or even a small out-building to do your fusion and science work in. This is "your lab"! For those looking in future to actually creating a building especially made for lab work rather than adapt a small area given over for you needs, here are tips on how to proceed from a guy who has done this many times over his 76 years. All of the tenets that I show are a source of ideas. check them out in the captioned images below.

Finally Fusion stuff:

I recently, 3 months ago, purchased a 4-inch cube fusor at a very good price. It includes a 30kv insulator. I attach an image of what I have, below. Now, will this be fusor VI? There are two things going for it. It is mostly ready to go and the price was right for me at the time. It would mean a vast departure from what I have and I am not really eager to tear down fusor V. I feel that it is now too late for me to replace fusor V and build up fusor VI and work the thing up to a level of functionality suitable to show at HEAS 2022. I might just kludge up a test bed situation and run fusor VI in a separate station in future. I will mull this over in my usual casually slow manner.

Richard Hull
Attachments
Woodshop.anno1.jpg
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Base Fusor VI Mod.jpg
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
Matt_Gibson
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Re: Your coveted future lab - tips and fusor VI...?

Post by Matt_Gibson »

Nice to see another cube coming…I’ve got a slightly smaller one (3.38”) so I’ll be watching your progress closely!

My plans are to construct such that I can pop off my old chamber and pop on the cube right in its place. No tear down or robbing the old chamber of parts. It’ll cost more to buy a few other things, but it’ll let me swap between the two for comparisons.

-Matt
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Richard Hull
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Re: Your coveted future lab - tips and fusor VI...?

Post by Richard Hull »

I have considered this path as well. I am focused on cooling via a solid copper 40lb 1/4-inch thick copper plate base mounted and forced air over the plate. This could be a bit tricky, but seems like it will work if done right. I have the plate already. It is really large 36" X 20" X 1/4". I will have to cut it up to make the plate needed as a sink.

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
Matt_Gibson
Posts: 505
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:36 am
Real name: Matt Gibson

Re: Your coveted future lab - tips and fusor VI...?

Post by Matt_Gibson »

Are you going to be using a cylindrical cathode? If so, you might want to focus your attention on cooling the end caps/plates. The “beam” from a cylindrical cathode turned my old chamber (stainless steel) white hot on the spots it was hitting. How about some copper water blocks meant for cpu cooling? I think Finn Hammer went that route.
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Dennis P Brown
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Re: Your coveted future lab - tips and fusor VI...?

Post by Dennis P Brown »

I can't wait to see your results - this will, once and for all tell us the state of cube fusors. I am extremely glad you are doing this project!
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