Cesare's Introduction

[Cesare_Mencarini]

Hello everyone. My name is Cesare, I am a sixth-form student in Cambridge. I am building a fusor with the help of my school. I just wanted to introduce myself to the community. I am going for a six inch stainless steel sphere design. I have bought many of the components and the next step is to get them welded. Here are some pictures of what we have done so far and a 3d render of the project. I am currently using a Leybold Trivac E2 as the roughing pump and a PFEIFFER TPH 062 which however does not have a controller and I was planning to build one. If anyone has any suggestions on how to do that they will be greatly appreciated.

[Rich Gorski]

Cesare,
Welcome to the forum. Sixth-form. I think in the US educational system that means junior or senior in high school. Is that right? Your system outlined in your post looks great. You have a good start on a fusor. My only recommendation is to look for a controller for the TMP062 on ebay or somewhere used. Other controllers for the older smaller Pfieffer pumps may also work on your pump but you have to check that out. Building a controller from scratch is a large undertaking. Spin up speed control, dealing with hall effect sensors for rotation sensing, multi-phase motor, etc. It may be much easier to keep looking and maybe find one that needs repair. They are easy to repair and components not expensive. I've repaired many THP-050 controllers usually just a chip or two needs replacing or the drive transistors.

Good luck with your build.
Rich G.

[Cesare_Mencarini]

Rich,
Thank you for your feedback, I'm glad you like my design. Yes, I'm a junior in high school I believe. I really like that idea and I will seriously consider the option. I am going to do more research about it.

Thanks again for the suggestion.
Cesare M

[Rich Gorski]

Found this at Ideal vacuum. Looks like your TMP062 will run with TCP040,TCP120 or TCP121 controllers. Several TCP040s are on currently on Ebay including this one for $40.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354831271190?

Rich G.

[Cesare_Mencarini]

Hi Rich,
Thank you for the link! Unfortunately the auction has already ended however there are other listings for TCP040 controllers at decent prices. I will definitely look into it and possibly purchase one.
Thanks again for your input and suggestions.

Cesare M

[Emma Black]

Hi Cesare, welcome. Your design looks good and professionally put together, you are using the same two Edwards gauges as me.

I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing more updates as the build progresses.

[Cesare_Mencarini]

Hi Emma,

Thanks for the warm welcome! I will keep you updated. I am planning to achieve plasma very soon and I'll definitely need the luck.

[Cesare_Mencarini]

For anybody interested, I have posted an update explaining how I achieved plasma at this link viewtopic.php?p=98990#p98990
Feel free to check it out!