Safety

[Trace]

At this moment I am the newest newbie. I am looking toward a long, cold winter with plenty of research time so to begin my construction I would ask everyone about safety. What are the main safety concerns when constructing and operating this device? What precautions should be built into the device at the onset? I am looking forward to constructing my own "Star in a Jar" however I want to do it safely. As with practically every project I undertake, I will be documenting the process and all relevant notes so that the next newbie can benefit from whatever mistakes I make.

Thanks in advance to all

Trace

[Trace]

For the record, I will be spending my next few hours (days?) reading all of the topics and corresponding posts in the Fusor forum. Please do not think of me as lazy by asking for safety information in my first post. I simply wanted to make use of the forum to garner as much intel as I can while I am reading through all of your other posts (it is a two birds with one stone mindset).

Again, Thank you in advance. I am in learning mode

[Scott Moroch]

Safety is important when constructing any fusor system. Are you planning on building a demo fusor or a neutron producing fusor? Either way you are going to want to start by reading the FAQ's. They will tell you everything you need to know. However, some of the main concern is high voltage, radiation, and flammable gas in a neutron producing. High voltage is not something you want togo messing around with if you do not know what you are doing. You do not want to learn the hard way with how dangerous the voltage levels are. The voltages associated with a neutron producing fusor will kill you instantly. Radiation is another concern however can be easily shielded if you are in a proper set up. For example if you are trying to do fusion in a glass bell jar radiation will be a big concern. However if you are working with a stainless steel chamber with proper shielding and are not running ridiculously high voltages(35kv and up) radiation will not be a big concern. Also deuterium is a hydrogen isotope which is flammable. I think it goes without saying what not to do near or around a flammable gas. Also I noticed in you introduction post you became interested when you read about it on United Nuclear from a tritium vial source. Please note that you cannot use tritium gas in a fusor. I do not know why United Nuclear says that. I have not had good experiences with United Nuclear and by no means consider them reliable.

With a demo fusor there are less safety concerns. High voltage is still a concern though. Whether you build a demo fusor or a neutron producing be safe, do not rush into things, and take full precautionary measures.

Hope this helped,

Scott Moroch

[Trace]

I will be able to converse more after i ingest some of the knowledge in these forums. Since neutrons are rather nasty I shall be building a demo Fusor as my first build. I have worked extensively with Hv while building several lasers. I purchased a fully contained and shielded Hv unit a few years ago for that specific purpose. I have, in the past, built my own X-ray emitter using an old vacuum tube from an extinct TV. I realize that this is not at all comparable to what I am contemplating now with a Fusor. As for other rad concerns, I have collected many highly active mineral samples over my lifetime and invested a good chunk of cash in a large supply of borated paraffin. With regards to United Nuclear, I must agree with your assessment. Though I have done a good deal of business with them in the past, it seems since they moved into their new building, customer service and product availability have suffered. Where the Tritium is concerned, please note that I am just beginning to educate myself about the construction of a Fusor. I will extensively research all aspects of this device before I decide on a materials list. Thanks to you, I will not waste any time on Tritium. I will not go live until I am absolutely certain that what i have assembled is safe. I will be relying on people like you and others in this forum to review my documented build to insure no one is hurt.

Thank You for taking time to respond to my post.

[Scott Moroch]

It is clear that the high voltage will not be a problem for you at all. It also seems clear you are taking full safety measures and not skipping any steps in the learning and buikding process. That is exactly what you need to keep doing. Trust ,e when I say this skipping steps and not learning and doing the reading will not get you far. It seems like you are on a good track! I have given United Nuclear a great deal of business myself. I have purchased everything from ores, elements, to power supplies. Some products are better than others and customer service is less than satisyfing. Also their prices are not the best.

A demo fusor is certainly the way to start becuase you will learn a lot about the type of equipment that will be used in a neutron producing. I recently finished my demo fusor and it was an excellent learning experience. I learned much more when it did not work and I went back and researched to see what went wrong, then I would have if it just worked.

Good luck with your studies,

Scott Moroch

[Andrew Robinson]

Yeah... tritium comes with its own list of legal problems. You will most likely not find that information here. Hi NSA!