Fusion in 10 weeks

[dean]

Hello, my name is Brandon Dean and I am building a fusor for a senior design project at Purdue University Calumet. God willing I hope to be kicking back counting neutrons by Thanksgiving. I have already excepted the fact that I will be making sacrifices in my design due to time mostly. What I do have is a decent budget which maybe be supplemented by a few small grants. I wish I knew where to begin.

I will be doing this project solo, and intend on it being a stepping stone to energy research in grad school.
I have a rough idea on a chamber design, most likely being excessively large. I will use 10"-16" 304L pipe and fab/weld conflat flanges on the ends. This seems "simpler" than turning 2 hemispheres from stock from the perspective of the programming and machine time needed, although well within my capabilities. A major concern of mine is surface finish on the flange faces, I may have to outsource the polishing. Also, the cylindrical chamber has the disadvantage of having more surface area that needs to be vacuum sealed. I am not with out doubt that I am overlooking more present issues.

My overall intent is 80% learning and 20% experimentation. My reasoning for making the chamber so large is to make this chamber useful for other experiments, but also for neutron/He3 detection and x-ray transparency.

Well no need to flood the forums. I hope I have clearly stated my intentions and made my naivety known. I am off to write up some grant apps, and organize some references. I hope to start on the chamber next week, and would be very interested in trading equipment for greenbacks.

[Tyler Christensen]

Either chamber type will work. A sphere is perhaps electrostatically favorable given the operation of the fusor however a cylinder is fine.

10 weeks is pretty ambitious but should be possible. I started last february with hopes of getting neutrons by May for the school science fair and am just now starting to get counts. It's always a lot longer a task than it seems from the start unless you shell out serious money. Start looking for a power supply from the start because that can be a very expensive part if you don't have time to scrounge for one.

Good luck!

[MarkS]

If you're going to DIY the chamber, you may want to downsize just a wee bit. New Conflat seem to run up in price exponentially. The flange money would probably be better spent on a neutron detector or really beefy PSU.

Anyways, Good Luck!!! Fusion in 10 weeks is quite the challenge. Getting the gas itself may take 10 weeks.

[Quantum]

The University can probably help in obtaining the Deuterium.