Hello from Arizona
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 9:06 pmHello,
I'm Liam David, one of the fusioneers from the fusor forums. I've been lurking here for a couple years, drawing inspiration from Doug's fusor work as well as the general vacuum, electronics, etc. techniques discussed. Having achieved fusion and with the intent of continuing my work, I figured it was time to make an account and contribute to the forums, though I have nowhere near the expertise of many here.
I'm an undergrad triple major (class of 2022) studying physics, astronomy, and math, which, as one would imagine, is quite a time-sapping thing. I meant to write this a few days ago, but hey, homework's gotta come first. Current classes include 3rd sem. E&M, classical mechanics using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, and various math and astronomy courses--finally getting into the interesting stuff after being bored in the intro classes. Despite the heavy theoretical focus in school, I'm a really hands-on guy; I certainly don't shy away from home repairs of reasonable magnitude, having done plenty of home gadgetry repair and mid-tier construction projects. I have a pretty good foundation in digital electronics (TTL stuff mostly) resulting from a rather rigorous high school class on the subject. We each had to make an LED-matrix-based game entirely from TTL components, EEPROMS, and a heck of a lot of wire. What the class lacked in theory was certainly eclipsed by the 'scope time and that spent cutting wire to length. But enough about that...
Nowadays I spend my free time working on a fusor, a project I started in middle school and continued throughout my enrollment at a sci/tech high school in northern Virginia. After much work delayed by a cubesat project and the stress that is the college admissions process, I achieved fusion early this past summer. The neutron rates aren't great yet; 70,000 n/s max at 30kV is the best I've done so far due to various instabilities relating to the grid. My supply's a -70kV 8.56mA Spellman DXM70N600 (it's got a really long thread on the fusor forums) modified in hardware and firmware to regulate voltage and current instead of shutting off upon exceeding the setpoints (it's an x-ray tube supply, so for safety, I guess). Unfortunately it still shuts off the output for 100ms to quench what it thinks is an arc but is instead some electron jet emanating from imperfections in the grid. That requires I raise and then lower the pressure to re-establish plasma, which wastes deuterium and time. All that's better discussed in the appropriate section, though--another post soon to follow.
Thanks for the add Doug! Looking forward to learning the ropes, and contributing where I can.
Liam David
I'm Liam David, one of the fusioneers from the fusor forums. I've been lurking here for a couple years, drawing inspiration from Doug's fusor work as well as the general vacuum, electronics, etc. techniques discussed. Having achieved fusion and with the intent of continuing my work, I figured it was time to make an account and contribute to the forums, though I have nowhere near the expertise of many here.
I'm an undergrad triple major (class of 2022) studying physics, astronomy, and math, which, as one would imagine, is quite a time-sapping thing. I meant to write this a few days ago, but hey, homework's gotta come first. Current classes include 3rd sem. E&M, classical mechanics using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, and various math and astronomy courses--finally getting into the interesting stuff after being bored in the intro classes. Despite the heavy theoretical focus in school, I'm a really hands-on guy; I certainly don't shy away from home repairs of reasonable magnitude, having done plenty of home gadgetry repair and mid-tier construction projects. I have a pretty good foundation in digital electronics (TTL stuff mostly) resulting from a rather rigorous high school class on the subject. We each had to make an LED-matrix-based game entirely from TTL components, EEPROMS, and a heck of a lot of wire. What the class lacked in theory was certainly eclipsed by the 'scope time and that spent cutting wire to length. But enough about that...
Nowadays I spend my free time working on a fusor, a project I started in middle school and continued throughout my enrollment at a sci/tech high school in northern Virginia. After much work delayed by a cubesat project and the stress that is the college admissions process, I achieved fusion early this past summer. The neutron rates aren't great yet; 70,000 n/s max at 30kV is the best I've done so far due to various instabilities relating to the grid. My supply's a -70kV 8.56mA Spellman DXM70N600 (it's got a really long thread on the fusor forums) modified in hardware and firmware to regulate voltage and current instead of shutting off upon exceeding the setpoints (it's an x-ray tube supply, so for safety, I guess). Unfortunately it still shuts off the output for 100ms to quench what it thinks is an arc but is instead some electron jet emanating from imperfections in the grid. That requires I raise and then lower the pressure to re-establish plasma, which wastes deuterium and time. All that's better discussed in the appropriate section, though--another post soon to follow.
Thanks for the add Doug! Looking forward to learning the ropes, and contributing where I can.
Liam David