Hello from Massachusetts, USA

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Dave Xanatos
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Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dave Xanatos »

I'm immensely excited to find this site and to discover that there are folks other than just myself who are off-center enough to have hobbies like this!

I have been building several types of radiation detectors lately (G-M tube, pin diode and scintillating fiber) and came across this site accidentally in a Wikipedia article.

I have a background in electronics engineering (I'm a contract design engineer specializing in custom electronic embedded industrial control systems - mostly in the petroleum industry), and I have a history of using my skills to have a lot of strange fun - tesla coils, voice controlled & voice responsive home automation systems, high power semiconductor lasers... I have an understanding wife :)

I was recently at a conference at which George Miley did some presentations. Fantastic guy, and at the time I had no idea that he had done research on fusors.

So here I am, joining your ranks and hopefully will add fusion reactor to the long list of technological oddities that I, my understanding wife, and completely unconcerned two cats share our home with. Very happy to be here and looking forward to getting to know some of you!

Dave
It would take decades of work, by thousands of scientists, in a particle accelerator powered by dump trucks of flaming grant money! - Professor Farnsworth/FUTURAMA
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Richard Hull
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Richard Hull »

Your story sounds much like mine. An understanding wife, two unconcerned cats and a ton of hobbies and accomplishments over my long 68 years that made me little money, but made me happier and wiser for having done them. (search my name followed by Tesla coil.)

Welcome to a band of serious amateur fusioneers.

Richrd 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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Dennis P Brown
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dennis P Brown »

Welcome and good luck on building your fusor.
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Dave Xanatos
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dave Xanatos »

It seems that I've been on a Pluto-like orbit around your material for a while Richard - I still have old TCBOR VHS videos from - I believe - the late 80s or early 90s! I have a good quantity of 16 gauge enameled solid copper that I intend to use for a large secondary coil, hopefully this summer, and a fat spool of 22 gauge solid enameled for some smaller secondaries. Most of the work I did on coils back then was with old fixed-gap systems, but I was good with tuning and got some really impressive sparks - 30+ inches - on some coils as small as 22" tall. I still have the old "grid dip" style meters that gave me my resonant frequency on the secondaries, and a box full of really fat caps - most in the range of .001uF 60kv. I think I still have a few 15kv and possibly a few 25kv NSTs hiding behind years of stored lumber in my garage which may be useful in my newest interest here with fusors and polywells. Being that I like to build circuits, and am a bit of a control freak with electronics, I am thinking more along the lines of using a pretty standard C-W voltage multiplier instead of the bulky transformer to get the voltage up there. I have a good supply of 10kv 4A diodes and a box full of .01uF 860v low leakage caps that I may apply to the output of a home brew switching supply... I'd like to run my fusor off of 13.8 vdc :) But I'm still researching everything on here. So far, it looks for me like the hard part will be getting the vacuum stuff going. I have a few vac pumps that I thought would be great - they have the strongest vacuum I ever encountered before... then I looked up the specs and discovered they could only pull 2.3" Hg... not even in the same state, let alone the ballpark, of the kind of vacuum needed. More areas of knowledge to fill in! (FYI EG&G Rotron SL2P2 - 036000 Spiral - but on the bright side I found out they sell on ebay for $250.00 USED! So perhaps I can convert those to something useful here!)

I have also been following the LENR/CANR stuff for quite a while and am interested in finding out if the procedures that result here (fusors & polywells) in the functional, unambiguous and definitive fusion that is inarguably attainable via these methods, could be applicable to the growing research on Pd and Ni/Ni alloys and whatever is going on with LENR, to produce a testable, reproducible, and more importantly, controllable, hybrid of the two technologies. I am also playing with laser induced surface plasmon Polaritons on various metallic hydrides and researching the properties of the constructive and destructive reflection of those waves at various boundary and surface irregularities... enormous field potentials concentrated into extremely small spaces, fascinating research.

Anyway - I type too much. Thanks for making this forum available and full of great info.

Dave
It would take decades of work, by thousands of scientists, in a particle accelerator powered by dump trucks of flaming grant money! - Professor Farnsworth/FUTURAMA
JakeJHecla
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by JakeJHecla »

Xanatos, how far are you from Boston? I have a medium-grade vacuum pump you can have if you can pick it up.
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Dave Xanatos
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dave Xanatos »

I am close enough to drive there for that! I try to make it to the MIT Flea Market every month (although I had to miss this most recent one on 4/20 due to multiple - work - projects with deadlines) - so I'll happily drive out for a decent vac pump. Since I'm starting out with just making a "demo" fusor to as a sort of proof of concept/proof of my ability to properly construct, seal, attain pressures, voltages, etc.... a "medium grade" vacuum pump may very well help. Can you provide some idea of size, weight and max vac attainable? I have a Ford Focus hatchback... need to be sure it'll fit! :)

Thanks!
It would take decades of work, by thousands of scientists, in a particle accelerator powered by dump trucks of flaming grant money! - Professor Farnsworth/FUTURAMA
JakeJHecla
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by JakeJHecla »

Dave- Just sent a PM about it. I forgot to mention it has KF16s on input/output, weighs about 35lbs and will probably pull to ~25 microns if properly nurtured. I have more stuff for sale/trade as well.
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Dave Xanatos
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dave Xanatos »

Responded... thanks.
It would take decades of work, by thousands of scientists, in a particle accelerator powered by dump trucks of flaming grant money! - Professor Farnsworth/FUTURAMA
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Dennis P Brown
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dennis P Brown »

That's a good size for a pump - mine is a KF-16 also and my oil back streaming trap has a KF-16 on one side and a KF-25 on the other so it works great. Not so good for my back up pump - that is a KF-25 ... oh, well.
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Dave Xanatos
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Dave Xanatos »

Jake, I just wanted to officially express my thanks for the pump and voltage feed, and all the really great info, plus getting to see your setup first hand. It was an enormously valuable experience, and it was a pleasure to meet you. See you at the MIT Flea in May!
Dave
It would take decades of work, by thousands of scientists, in a particle accelerator powered by dump trucks of flaming grant money! - Professor Farnsworth/FUTURAMA
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Richard Hull
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Re: Hello from Massachusetts, USA

Post by Richard Hull »

I'm glad you guys got together. A picture may be worth a thousand words but a meeting and discussion time is worth millions. That is why the HEAS is going to celebrate a quarter of a century of gathering together scientific amateurs for such exchanges of ideas and goods this year!

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8864

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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