Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

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Peter Schmelcher
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Peter Schmelcher »

Purchasing a connector is not looking so good.

I was ready to buy the $160 part but then on Friday they had cold feet. I think it was because I was the end user and paid all taxes.

So don’t hold your breath and get ready to make your own HV cable termination.


BTW I measured the filament waveform (no load) thinking it might be useful as a floating power supply for a mass flow controller or something.

The waveform looks like the output of a pulse transformer. You get a positive +20V pulse then some time later a -20V pulse. A faster pulse rate is a higher filament current.

-Peter
DXM filament.JPG
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Trent Carter
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Trent Carter »

I was also thinking about the filament power supply. I would not use it for mass flow devices because they generally need 24vdc and those supplies are cheap and readily available.

However the filament supply is unique in the fact it is on the -70kV side of the supply, thus Spellman has performed the necessary steps to have a low voltage, high current supply that can operate at the -70kV potential. Thats non-trivial for most. So I was thinking of using the filament supply as intended; to drive a filament. Seems like a easy supply for the hot filament of an ion source. Assuming the ion source was implemented near or inside the cathode. I don't have any brilliant ideas on any such implementation at the moment, but have added it to my mental toolkit.

As for the cable; I just ordered one directly from Claymount (now Varex) for $170 +S&H+Tax. Yes, almost as much as the supply. I too got cold feet on ordering two, and grabbed some decent HV connectors and a nice cable from HVStuff to see if I have the skills to contain 70kV (likely not).
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Garrett Young
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Garrett Young »

Andrew,

I attempted a HV cable and it arcs at about 28kV to the power supply case. Any chance I could buy a single conductor 2.5 ft cable assembly from you?
- Garrett
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Andrew Seltzman »

I don't have any complete cables for sale, but I do have a cable plug. You would have to pot in you own HV cable with an RTV silicone and buy the required pins. Send me an email at seltzman <at> wisc.edu

I might be willing to do a mass production run of cable plugs if there is interest.
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Trent Carter
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Trent Carter »

I fabricated a physical controller for the Spellman supply, thought it would be a one day job, but took two. The main snags were;

1. The pin 11 - 12 that is labeled "X-Ray Enable" is the interlock (no big news there)
2. Pins 15 and 12 must also be connected but only after 11 and 12. So if you wire them to one switch as I did the power supply won't enable HV out.
The rest was straight forward.
Other notes;
3. If you want to get +10V from the Spellman to simplify your controller, you have to turn the tiny trim pots on the front of the supply all the way to the right, then you will have +10 V on pins 5 and 7

For real use I don't need this controller but for development and testing nothing beats a knob and switch. For automation reasons I will be using the rs232 and/or TCP for remote operation. During "Oh C4@p" moments I prefer not to have to fumble with a mouse and keyboard. I love slap-off switches and paddles as you can see. I had one 1.5kV supply go "fireworks" on me this week and I paddle-shutoffed the impending fire.

You can also see the controller I made for my 30kV Bertan Series 106 (smaller brown controller with one LCD) has been a good workhorse.

*A special thanks to Andrew and Dan Knapp for publishing every detail; it saved me a few hours I am sure.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Richard Hull »

It really helps when those of us who know electronics and computer interfacing can kludge stuff together to make dead things "go" again. Help from friends who have trodden the path saves us time as well. We share back what we have learned. This is what open source means in our unwritten constitution.

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
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Garrett Young
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Garrett Young »

I purchased a known defective Spellman DXM70N600X3547 and the inverter board was completely gone (especially since someone previously attempted to fix the board). I designed a new inverter specifically for DXMXXX600 supplies with a user selectable switch frequency (20-80kHz). When you remove the user control interface and power factor correction front end the driver is really straight forward. I used a current transformer to limit the peak primary current in the flybacks on a cycle by cycle basis. The feedback loop reuses the monitor cable from the high voltage board and controls the PWM duty cycle based on output current. I power the circuit using a variac for easy control and limit the power to the flybacks/multiplier in order to protect them from thermal overload. I was easily able to achieve 500k n/sec on it's first run (35kV @ 8mA).
IMG_1597.JPG
- Garrett
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Richard Hull
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Richard Hull »

There is always a way to "skin th' cat". It just takes know-how and a will to do and accomplish. The hands-on-imperative.
Good work!

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
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Rich Feldman
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Rich Feldman »

Nice work there, Garrett. Good reference in case my repaired DXM70N600 fails to work. So far, it's never failed because it's never been tried (since repair).

Sounds like some of us are in a club which enjoys the Frankenstein approach to re-animating old subsystems.
Long ago I acquired up a Kaiser HVPS rated for about 1200 V at 1 A for about $35.
Figured its inverter could be connected to a different transformer, such as one of several already on the shelf.
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
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Nick Peskosky
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Nick Peskosky »

It's been a while since I have been able to chime in on this thread but I was lucky enough to score one of these supplies while I was deployed most recently over in Japan. Cobbled together a breadboard analog controller over the weekend and was able to make this supply come to life (confirmed with a trusty Fluke 80K-40) tonight. I missed the notes on the trim pots at first and couldn't get an output on the HV side. Measured my 10kOhm pot and realized there wasn't a dc voltage on the rail so I just subbed in a bench DC supply at a regulated 0.8V to realize -5.00kV on the output. I'm working a few upgrades to my existing Fusor and simultaneously commencing work on a second 6-way cross that I hope to turn into a BoT system. This thread has been absolute life saver as far as reference materials go!

I'll provide an update once my crossover cable arrives from Amazon.
Spellman DXM70N600X_Test_06.28.2017.jpg
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Joshua Guertler
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Joshua Guertler »

What type of rectifier did you use to get the power to DC?
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Trent Carter
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.5

Post by Trent Carter »

I have two of these and I was considering running them in parallel to double the current from 8.5mA to 17mA.

I have a decent array of HVR-1X 3 Diodes. They are rated at 12kV 500mA each in an array of 16 per string. They were on PCBs to rectify 125kV.
IMG_4405.JPG
Here is what I was considering:

DXM-1 ---- 16x string of HVR-1X 3 ------|
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>|------330 kOhm @ 100W -------Fusor Cathode
DXM-2 ---- 16x string of HVR-1X 3 ------|

Or I can split the ballast

DXM-1 ---- 16x string of HVR-1X 3 ----126KOhm 100W Ballast--|
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>|---------Fusor Cathode
DXM-2 ---- 16x string of HVR-1X 3 ----126KOhm 100W Ballast--|

Last option, a series parallel ballast:

DXM-1 ---- 16x string of HVR-1X 3 ----63KOhm 100W Ballast--|
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>|---80kOhm 100W ballast------Fusor Cathode
DXM-2 ---- 16x string of HVR-1X 3 ----63KOhm 100W Ballast--|

Do you think I would be safe? Safe = Not damage my new DXMs.
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

Post by Peter Schmelcher »

Using Andrews connector autopsy as a starting point I printed a Claymount style HV connector in PLA.

It’s a work in progress but basically you cast silicone between a PLA shell and the HV cable to eliminate any air voids between the cable and the shell.

The HV connector plug has a 0.5degree taper so all the o rings engage together for the last 2cm of insertion. I only used ¾”ID x 15/16OD silicone o rings and varied the notch diameter for a good fit.

I printed with a 0.4mm diameter nozzle and 0.15mm layer thickness. The walls are 0.8mm thick (two nozzles diameters).

The STL files are about 16meg because of the printed 0.75mm pitch threads. I can't attach the .stl files to my post so PM if you want the stl files.

I fit tested the connector on both of my Spellman, one is perfect all the o rings engage together for the last 2cm of insertion requiring a pleasing amount of force, and the other is similar but requires excess force, in my opinion. I expect just some grease is needed on the o rings.

-Peter
HV connector.jpg
Picture 601.jpg
Picture 602.jpg
HV connector.png
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Samuel Low
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

Post by Samuel Low »

Andrew Seltzman wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:42 pm I've compiled the matlab m files into a stand alone program that ramps the supply up to 10kV, it should start ramping up the voltage when executed.
DXM_test.zip
You will need the matlab runtime(free) on your computer to run the program
Get the Windows 64-bit version of the MATLAB Runtime for R2016a
https://www.mathworks.com/products/compiler/mcr/
Andrew thank you very much for this MATLAB code. As with all others, I've tried to run my Spellman DXM 30kV power supply but the Java Applet just isn't working. Your MATLAB code runs as it does, but somehow the queried voltage out is still showing me a flat zero... I am not sure why. I have not done anything else except to:

1. plug in the Ethernet crossover cables
2. verify that I can ping 192.168.1.4
3. verify that I can open the Java applet (but not use it, TCP/IP connection shows a blank and the buttons are non-responsive)
4. proceeded to run your MATLAB code, changing all options in your code from remote to local (because I am doing a direct connection between my laptop and the spellman unit).

I've attached the plot. I don't really understand why it doesn't work, the code seems to be working properly and I am successfully querying information such as the server versions and things like that.

Also, has anyone been able to get the Java applet to work on Windows 7? Seems the manual says it works only for Windows-based OS's up till XP.

Anyway, if anyone wants to get their hands on a CA11 cable that connects from a Spellman HV unit, the cheapest I have found so far is about 300USD (inclusive of shipping), from a company called Varex Imaging in the Phillipines. https://www.vareximaging.com/products/c ... connectors

The contact person in charge of cable sales, email: alina.latayan@vareximaging.com
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

Post by Andrew Seltzman »

I don't see an attached plot, could you upload the plot and the text output printed to the matlab terminal?

It sounds like one of the interlocks is tripped, do you have the proper pins jumpered on the 15pin connector?

The java applet is really old and dosen't work on current OS.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

Post by Richard Hull »

In years gone by, I always thought the world would end when, in a rat's nest of cables within a critical function, one would come adrift or be plugged into one of many jacks that was woefully wrong. Now I am convinced it will end in bad code uploaded from another operating system long ago abandoned, but triggering a set of events that are irreversible instead of just failing to work correctly.

As an old programmer, I have seen things go bad like this as one attempts to fix or update undocumented code written long ago that operated many dangerous "switches and routings" within a complex system.

I laughed at one episode of Big Bang Theory when Leonard asked Sheldon what he had planned for the weekend, as he pulled out a dual floppy drive. Sheldon replied, "I plan on enjoying a weekend recalling and exploring the joys of Windows 95."

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
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

Post by Trent Carter »

I bought (eBay) and repaired another one of these nice supplies.

This was my longest repair as I needed two Mouser orders which take a few days and it really was a difficult troubleshoot. As I dont need the supply, nor was it financially expensive, it was really just for fun. As entertainment it was a nice relaxing repair. Total time 3-4 hours over two weeks.

Unit 3:
Symptom: Blinking power light. Looks like it starts to power up then resets, then repeats. Constant clicking from from low V relay. No HV, no serial or ethernet comm.

Parts obviously blown:
R218 5W short
R228 10K 1W resistor blown in half
C149 33uF 450V Capacitor - Bulged on top so much it shorted to the cover leaving a black carbon footprint and likely doing most of the damage.

Also found:
Q6
Q8
Q11
Q10
All bad. Short between two of three pins, but no obvious thermal damage.

CR34 MUR460 had failed. I happen to have one from an aerospace powersupply.

Had to order Mouser IXFH26N50P Mosfet as the OEM component is EOL. This may help other as it does seem to work!

I also found one little Diode that went short on me near C149, I think it was CR65 or 66.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

Post by Richard Hull »

Great restoration and troubleshooting. Others will be glad to know of specific components you found bad as in many cases the same systems tend to be weak or fail along the same lines.....And the same components

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
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