Fusor Forums

Using formulas from conventional Earth technology, that bead condenser can accumulate 9000 watt-seconds of energy.
Do the instructions mention any warning signs, in case it's about to blow?

Made it myself, indeed. Watched and freeze framed the movie to get the part number and supplier correct for the box.
Alien technology does not "blow up". Man made stuff does.

Richard Hull

$30k seems like a really reasonable price through my eyes, might not to most but hear me out - if any of that energy could be harnessed then the cost could be completely justified. A hobby project to me though (I understand that it won't power my house or energy hogging BOINC operation by any means), I personally can still justify the cost because its f*cking epic and ruffles some feathers; especially seeing as the EPA is going under later this week due to lack of funding. Even the most outspoken minds in technology and green energy say nuclear is our only option as a civilization to cut down on carbon.

Off topic: I am a big E85 guy over electric vehicles since I come from corn country and Teslas can effectively be considered a contemporary coal-powered vehicle; a nuclear grid could sell me a Tesla though

Richard Hull wrote: ↑Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:22 pm Jerry and Dennis got it right. If we had a list of good parts that would make a fusor in all hands, it might run $30,000. Even with plus-ultra parts and fully assembled, It is somewhat of an art to successfully run and operate one to peak efficiency. Much is written about the "artifice" involved in operation in the forums and FAQs.

Richard Hull

OK William.
After you are proficient at fusing, you are free to profit by producing a ready-to-fly fusor, or selling plans with a bill of materials.
The market might be smaller than that for Virgin Galactic's $250,000 tickets, to enjoy a few minutes of microgravity on a suborbital excursion above the first 100 km of our atmosphere.

[off topic] I bet most new electric generating capacity in USA is natural gas fired.
Decline of coal is not from Obama regulatory over-reach, it's from under-reach about fracking. Consequently gas is too cheap.
Oil wells were invented in USA. A century later, our fossil fuels are the most drilled, mined, and depleted on Earth. Fracking, along with offshore and wilderness leases, expedites the depletion of what's left. Like federal deficit spending -- let's avoid the unpleasantness of looking ahead one or two human generations.

Awhh cmon man,

We all know we're gonna pump earth to apocalypse-level carbon in this lifetime, lets at least have some fun with it and sell the real answer (nuclear) while we are still breathing

Rich Feldman wrote: ↑Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:47 pm OK William.
After you are proficient at fusing, you are free to profit by producing a ready-to-fly fusor, or selling plans with a bill of materials.
The market might be smaller than that for Virgin Galactic's $250,000 tickets, to enjoy a few minutes of microgravity on a suborbital excursion above the first 100 km of our atmosphere.

[off topic] I bet most new electric generating capacity in USA is natural gas fired.
Decline of coal is not from Obama regulatory over-reach, it's from under-reach about fracking. Consequently gas is too cheap.
Oil wells were invented in USA. A century later, our fossil fuels are the most drilled, mined, and depleted on Earth. Fracking, along with offshore and wilderness leases, expedites the depletion of what's left. Like federal deficit spending -- let's avoid the unpleasantness of looking ahead one or two human generations.

Stop quoting the whole message you are replying to.

I'd suggest that the short-sight problem with nuclear is that we have to safely store the radioactive waste for times on the order of, or longer than, homo sapiens have existed. What could go wrong?

If you want to build a fusor for fun and learning, this is a good place. If you want to do research, again, this is the place to learn so you can. If you want a complete list of parts and assembly instructions, not happening.

Fusors can be lethal and part of the ability to be safe is doing the hard work of tracking down parts, reading FAQ's, building components and testing various sub-units, until one is ready to build the real fusor.

Fusors are not for the lazy, nor people that lose interest fast nor are willing to teach themselves various techniques - vacuum work, electronics, machine work to name a few if money is an issue. I spent over five years building equipment, running experiments and going down blind alleys before I built a successful fusor. My first build was an accelerator; then a Van de Graaf, followed by a few voltage multipliers until I decided to get serious about fusors. Then I got a proper power supply and built the fusor.

If you want to do energy research, then you have huge hurtles to overcome besides building a fusor - which, frankly, is vastly simpler compared to that goal. I suggest you decide what you want to do, focus on that objective and get moving. Posting talk about coal and fission power isn't ever going to get you anywhere nor is that the purpose of this forum.

As Richard says too often: if you have an idea, build it.

So, start putting together real hardware and people here will help you as best as we can.

I had an idea but someone said there was serious flaws in my drawing.

I have no problem putting on a gas mask and jimmying the thing. I've consumed substances in my youth that are probably more lethal than a fusor could ever be. My house could turn into chernobyl but I am prepared - I readily have handled uranium bare handed. Death isn't an issue here, I will not let it happen to myself or others. I'm real good at jimmy rigging stuff and I figure this is no different. But following closely someone else's process is needed, otherwise I'm rolling with my initial drawing....

I would be honored to join the 27 club trying to build a fusor. This is for America baby.

You are not ever going to break even with a fusor, just not happening.

Uranium is not a big deal, it is mostly an alpha emitter which does not even make it through your skin, about the only time you need to really worry about it is if you ingest or inhale it. The x-rays from a fusor at 40kv are way more of a problem than that. And then there is the potentially exposed voltages, 40kv at 10ma has a pretty decent chance of killing you.

William,

I suspect some people might be willing to produce a design for vacuum chambers and gas delivery as consultants in exchange for a fee. Skilled consulting of this kind rarely costs less than $100 an hour and is usually twice that or more.


50 kV for a fusor can kill you instantly just by touching it, and will also blow through thick layers of insulation and jump 6 inches through the air -- or even gradually leak into the air and charge your body up without you noticing. Uranium is child's play compared to this.


A fusion reactor of nearly any kind that even approaches breakeven will be an intense radiation source. One using deuterium fuel will be an intense neutron radiation source, which means the fusor and everything near it become radioactive. These rapidly become impossible to operate without hefty safety and licensing requirements. There are some people working on energy experiments, like Doug Coulter. These people have done the long slog through the study of basic vacuum and electrical techniques just like everybody else here who has gotten into the neutron club. There ultimately is no substitute for diligence.