Wow, This is absolutely beautiful! The pictures and video just don't do the fusor justice. You've got to see it for yourself to truly appreciate the dancing, sparkling, and spiraling plasma structures inside th' jar. I never realized how truly dynamic and alive the fusor discharge is, it really puts on a show.
Very soon I'll try to get some photos, or may wait till the we're all at the new site.
Now I've got to tell you about this thing: I bet I currently hold the scrounger record for working demo fusors. You see, I'll be heading out of town all next week and figured I probably wouldn't get a chance to get to the shop and weld the grids together. I didn't wanna wait, so I cobbled up some impromptu grids and fastened them together using aluminum tape! There are such a mess, but they work. I didn't use any type of insulation on the bolt that goes to the inner grid. Because of this sometimes the discharge will be between the anode and the feed wire. It looks awesome, like a lightsaber blade from Star Wars or something. My current vacuum pump is over 30 years old and has (had) a base pressure of 200 microns back in its day. Didn't even have a vacuum gauge on the thing! I couldn't believe that the system had such a tolerance to pathetic construction. I can't wait now to actually see what a *good* system can do!
Hope to see all you guys soon on the new site, with stories to tell and pics to boast.
Adam Parker
Created on Saturday, June 16, 2001 2:33 PM EDT by Adam L. Parker