Matthew Melass from America

[Matthew Melass]

Hello, I'm a 12 year old amateur scientist who has studied nuclear science extensively. I first got interested when I was studying how stars work when I was 8. I am a Boy Scout who (obviously) has a nuclear science merit badge (though I don't think that this makes me some kind of nuclear super genius, but I think it makes me a kid who isn't 100% clueless about this.) I am attempting to make a fusor. I hope you will help me to achieve my goal. First I would like to know how long it takes to build a fusor and how much it costs.

[Scott Moroch]

Matthew,

Welcome to the forum. Your question does not have as straight forward of an answer as you might think. The cost of a fusor is primarily determined on how much money you have available and your engineering skills. A fusor can be built very easily for about 10,000-20,000 dollars. However, most people on this forum do not have that kind of money. In fact many people have made fusors for under 1,000 dollars but it took many hours of machining and scrounging for parts. I would say (a rough estimation) that the average cost of a fusor on this forum falls between 2,000-5,000 dollars. The variability is affected mainly on your skills and availability to equipment.

The amount of time that it takes to build a fusor depends on the amount of money and resources you have available. Again, if you have 15,000 dollars laying around, you could probably get a fusor up and running in a couple of months. With this amount of money you can buy most of your parts brand new. My personal fusor that, I am working on with a friend, has costed us a combined total of about 4,000 dollars and we have been working on it for about 2 years now. However, over recent months I have learned that many companies are incredibly generous and are always willing to provide discounts or donations. If I had investigated this in the beginning, the fusor may have only costed us $1,000-2,000.


I recommend you read all of the FAQ's before going any further with your fusor. These FAQ's can be found at the top of every sub-forum. At 12 years of age, although I am sure you are very intelligent, getting in over your head can be potentially lethal.

Best of luck.

Scott Moroch

[Richard Hull]

You might read the FAQ in the construction forum.........

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=9072&p=61928#p61928

Richard Hull

[Matthew Melass]

$1000, wow. Thank God I'm employed. Anyways thank you for responding and I am excited to start. I hope you will help me to achieve my goal. I am working towards building a reactor soon. If anyone can find a way to build one for less I would love to know, but I am working towards that myself. Summer vacation just started today so I can have an abundance of time to work for this. The link was useful to me. I would estimate that I am of upper A to mid B skill level. I may start with a demo fusor and attempt to build an actual one from it (I believe that this was called a "super demo," correct?) I am not just doing this for a science fair or anything. I actually do want to build a fusor. For a "super demo," how long do you think it would take?

[Matthew_Melass]

Also are there any good nuclear physics/engineering courses online that you would recommend?

[Andrew Robinson]

MIT posts lectures online as do several other universities. Just do some searching.

[Matthew_Melass]

Thank you very much. I am starting with a demonstrative fusor that I will upgrade. Also, I was wondering who the youngest person was to build a demo fusor

[Andrew Robinson]

I think I see where this is going already... I highly recommend you thoroughly read this post: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9344

I'm not going to beat a dead horse here. Please just read and take those suggestions to heart.

If your question is simply out of curiosity, then I think the record still stands at 14: http://fusor.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=13&f=7#p512

[Matthew_Melass]

Thank you very much for the link. I see that you may think that I only plan to build a demo fusor, but I assure you that I am actively scrounging for parts for a demo and fully operational fusor. I can't build a full reactor for the science fair project, but I am going to upgrade it immediately after the science fair. I am excited to build a reactor and I must assure you that I will not stop at a demo fusor.

[Andrew Robinson]

I think you missed the point of that entire post. Did you actually read it?

[Matthew_Melass]

Yes, I did a couple times. It was the part where you said "I think I see where this is going already" that made me misinterpret the post. I was wondering where I might go to scrounge for parts, as I have been trying to find a place that allows that.

[Tom McCarthy]

Matthew,

There is no single place where you are going to be able to scrounge for your parts and just grab everything you need in one session - Except maybe eBay! Most likely, you're going to have to start nitpicking individual parts from various places. This is going to be a mix of leftovers from different shops, donations (if you're lucky) from people you approach, college donations/old parts and eBay purchases. Of course, if you have the money, you can buy parts new, or in very good used shape.

One thing you're going to need to do is start figuring out things yourself. The guys on this forum will help you, but they will not lead you by hand and foot to Fusion Central. The best way to start figuring is read, read, read. You're intelligent, so I'm sure you've read the FAQs and some recent posts, but you're going to need to go deeper than that if you want to get to neutron-producing with a stable understanding of what you're doing. As has been stated before, Fusor building is uncanny in the sheer number of disciplines in which expertise is required for success. After a couple of days' reading, you'll get a good outline of what's needed for the Fusor, but there is a huge amount more to learn, which I hope you'll be enthusiastic about. I've been here over 2 years and while I'm nearing completion of my Fusor, I find with most new posts, there is a lot more for me to learn that I thought I had a good grounding on.

Keep at it and as I said, read, read, READ!

Best of luck with your project and don't be afraid to post questions (as long as you've read up on it first!).
Tom

[Dennis P Brown]

Just wanted to add an important point - obtaining deuterium gas is a show stopper for most people who want a real fusor and there just isn't any simple "fix" for this problem. Do not waste your time on trying to obtain parts/build a real fusor until you careful consider this problem and determine a realistic solution (this isn't the only show stopper for people but is one that stops the vast majority. Just saying.)

That said, there are a few points that also can be addressed for a first time person. The power supply for a real fusor is beyond lethal and NOT to be taken lightly - ever. One mistake and you are dead. Building a demo fusor is not just fun and useful, it is critical to learning how to properly use high voltage. Obtaining a nice, low cost (part of the learning curve) iron core neon sign transformer (NST) is the best method for learning high voltage safely issues at minimum risk (however, there are ways a NST can be fatal so do read up on their safe operation.) A mistake with a NST generally isn't going to be fatal nor wreck your power supply, for that matter. But building a demo fusor power supply system using a NST will teach you exactly how easy it is to be shocked despite your best efforts and the pain from those mistake(s) does leave a useful lesson (lol) that is well remembered.

That all said, the first two items any/all people really need are a good vacuum pump (two stage) and some type of low pressure gauge (that can at least read microns or its equivalent.) The nice thing about obtaining a good vacuum pump & gauge is that these two items are not just useful for a demo fusor but will be required for a real fusor - so it is a good investment. Besides, there are other very interesting projects one can build that are based on these systems so even if you decide not to build a fusor, these projects can be pursued more easily.

I got a $2.5 K two stage pump that gets down to a few microns for under $60 (w/shipping!) - not once but twice on ebay. These pumps were used and needed cleaning and vacuum oil but worked great. Deals exist and you need to learn how to search for these deals AFTER properly learning what a two stage pump is and what size/types work and don't work before investing in one. Same for gauges - there are great deals and junk - depending on your knowledge the later can be the former if you know what you are doing and the former becomes the later if you don't!

So, first, read the FAQ's in each section and learn about all aspects of fusors. Lurk here and do, as needed, ask questions. Keep an eye on ebay and here for deals and when you know enough, get the basic parts for a demo-fusor. Unless you have a lot of money, don't jump into trying to build a real fusor. Best of luck and a demo fusor is, with no doubt, an extremely useful device to first build.

[Matthew_Melass]

In case anyone (somehow) sees this, my birthday is on the 19th.