Fusor I

January 2012 Present

Jeff Robertson Loyola Marymount University

This paper is a summary of the steps taken in constructing my first generation fusor. Covered in this paper are several of the major elements in an inertial electrostatic confinement fusor, including the vacuum pumping system, fusor chamber (as well as internal elements), and pressure gauging system. The power supply is still a work in progress and thus will not be covered.

July 17, 2012

Vacuum System

Figure 1: Schematic for the high vacuum system used in this fusor.

1. CONFLAT TEE

2. KF TO CONFLAT ADAPTER

Figure 3: Photograph of the KF-CF adapter used. Figure 2: Photograph of the tee fitting used. A tee fitting was chosen to be placed at the opening of the chamber. Originally, instead of a tee it was planned to just have a regular right angle elbow fitting which would go from the chamber to the rest of the vacuum system. Another hole was going to be drilled through the baseplate of the chamber, and this would serve as a feedthrough to the pressure gauge system. Additional feedthroughs, however, carried the risk of more potential areas to cause leaks. In addition, the flange on the pressure gauge was difficult to mate to the baseplate, so this design was not ideal. The design was modified to allow the gauge to be placed near the entrance of the vacuum system, and the elbow fitting was replaced with the tee fitting seen above. The fitting is made out of 304 stainless steel due to its high strength, resistance to corrosion, and ability to withstand moderately high temperatures. The flanges on the tee are all 2.75 inch Conflat. 2.75 inches was desired because it was the largest practical size which could fit underneath the bell jar. In addition, the inner diameter of the tubing is 1.5 inches, giving the system a large enough opening for efficient pumping. The bottom flange is rigid while the other two are free to rotate. The rotatable flanges were desired so that it would be easier to line up the tee with the rest of the vacuum system. This fitting was bought from Nor-Cal for $123.50, while quarter inch screws, washers, and bolts (borrowed from the lab manager) were used to mate conflat flanges together. An adapter was required in order to connect the pressure gauge to the conflat tee. One flange on this adapter is a 2.75 inch conflat which mates with the tee fitting, while the other side is a KF-16 flange which goes to the pressure gauge. The adapter is made out of 304 stainless steel for the same reasons that the tee fitting was. A clamp, centering ring, and O-ring gasket were used to secure the two KF flanges together. This adapter was bought from Ideal Vacuum Products for $64.05. 3. CONFLAT RIGHT ANGLE VALVE

Figure 4: Photograph of the right angle valve used. Next, a right angle valve was chosen to be placed in series with the tee fitting. A valve is necessary somewhere between the diffusion pump and the chamber, so that one can control the rate at which air is pumped out of the system. In addition, the geometry of the angled valve makes it more difficult

for oil from the diffusion pump to backstream into the system, especially if the valve is barely cracked open. Both flanges on the valve are rotatable 2.75 inch conflat. The inside of the valve uses a tapered poppet seal to ensure it is airtight when closed. When the knob on the valve is turned, the inside of the valve has a spring which either expands or contracts. The spring supports a circular plate with a viton gasket around it, so when the valve is turned shut it expands the spring and pushes this plate against the tapered walls inside until the viton is compressed. This item was bought used off ebay for $175. It was originally manufactured by Huntington Laboratories Inc. 4. CF TO ASA ADAPTER

Figure 5: Photograph of the CF to ASA adapter used. An adapter was required in order to mate the right angle valve to the diffusion pump. The issue with the diffusion pump was that there no literature on the pump, or any information about it online for that matter, so it is likely that the company that manufactured it (Edwards) stopped supporting that pump. The flange on the top was determined to be a 5 inch diameter conflat flange, which was peculiar because this is not a normal size for conflat flanges. As a result, it was impossible to find any sort of adapter which would connect a 5 inch conflat flange to a 2.75 inch. Several companies can custom make flanges upon request, however this can cost a good amount of money in addition to requiring additional time to process and manufacture. It was discovered that there is a category of flanges known as ASA, which is a standardized flange created by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It functions similarly to a conflat flange in that its compressed down by screws and bolts, but the standard sizes are different than conflat. One of the ASA sizes is 5 inches, which matches the flange diameter on the diffusion pump. In addition, several companies were found which sell adapters for 2.75 inch conflat to 5 inch ASA, so it was determined

that this was the best adapter to connect the diffusion pump to the right angle valve. The ASA flange had some drawbacks which had to be addressed before introducing it into the system. For starters, while conflat flanges typically have 6 small holes for screws to go through, the ASA flange had 4 rather big holes. The holes on the ASA flange were large enough that, when placed on top of the diffusion pump, the O-ring gasket was partially exposed to atmosphere. The geometry of the ASA and diffusion pump flanges allowed only two holes to be lined up together. Four holes were drilled into the ASA flange on the adapter, so that 6 screws could go through the two flanges. Another problem was that the ASAstandardized holes were further into the center of the adapter than the ones on the diffusion pump, so they didnt line up properly. For the two ASA-side holes which were able to line up with the diffusion pumps flange, two channels were cut from the inside of the holes to the outer diameter. This effectively widened the cross section of the hole so that a screw could be placed through it. All anxiety over the custom machining and the exposed O-ring was extinguished when the adapter worked perfectly the first time it was set up. Since then it has consistently held a solid vacuum. This adapter was bought from Nor Cal for $171. It took two weeks for it to be manufactured before it could be shipped. 5. DIFFUSION PUMP A diffusion pump was bought off ebay for $160. It was bought off of another fusor enthusiast so as to guarantee the pump was legitimate. As mentioned before, the pump has a 5 inch conflat flange on the top, and is exactly a foot tall. The pump is water cooled. The exhaust flange was originally some sort of compression port, seen in the below picture:

Figure 6: Original flange on the exhaust of the diffusion pump. Due to lack of information on the internet regarding this particular pump, it was uncertain how

exactly to go about connecting this to a hose. In most compression ports, there is some sort of gasket which is placed inside, so that it compresses down as you screw in the outer piece. A pipe of appropriate diameter is placed inside, so that the gasket is compressed against the pipe and thus forming a seal. The pump did not come with a gasket, however, and further research on how to make this compression port compatible with other flanges proved to be a headache. After much frustration dealing with this, it was decided to just turn it into a KF flange. A KF 25 flange, specifically, was desired as this was the fitting on the hose provided by the lab manager. A blank KF 25 flange was bought off Ideal Vacuum Products for $15.05, seen below:

Figure 7: Blank KF 25 flange A .75 inch diameter hole was drilled completely through, so that exhaust could be pulled through it. It was originally planned to just cold weld the pipe end of this flange onto end of the compression port, but it was determined that this would be mechanically weak and prone to bending and shear stress. An additional piece of aluminum piping was proposed to be placed around both this flange and the compression port, thus providing a sturdy sleeve. A piece of aluminum tube with an inner diameter of .75 inches was chosen for the sleeve. The diameter of the compression port was slightly larger .75 inches, so part of the inside of the aluminum tube had to be cut away to allow the compression fitting to sit inside. Below is a 2-dimensional side view of the sleeve, with the two fittings inside:

Figure 8: Aluminum sleeve design for exhaust port. All the dimensions were chosen so that everything would have a snug fit. The aluminum sleeve was

machined with the aid of a lathe machine. Once the sleeve was made, a generous amount of JB weld was used on the inside surface and the two flanges were placed inside. A couple days were allowed for the weld to settle. The next design challenge involved creating a water cooling system. The pump consisted of a metal pipe which coiled around the body, and had two compression ports to allow a hose to be connected. Past experience dealing with the headaches brought about by the exhaust port was enough motivation to try and convert the water inlet and outlet to something friendlier to work with. The compression ports were removed, revealing half inch threading on the outside of the water cooling pipe. Two adapters were then bought from Home Depot and placed in series to convert this half inch male threaded end to a half inch barbed tip. Barbed tubing is ideal for water system which can be easily assembled and disassembled. Plastic tubing with a half inch inner diameter was purchased and placed snugly over the barbed ends. Next a bucket with a decent amount of water was used as a sort of water reservoir, which could stay around room temperature for a large amount of time. The only element remaining, then, was a water pump. After scouring the internet for pumps which would do the trick, a trip to the local Petco proved to be effective. An aquarium pump was purchased for $15. A couple parts had to be sealed shut with hot glue (some aquarium pumps have an inlet to allow oxygen into the water, which isnt desired for a water cooling system), but after that it was able to pump water effectively. The plastic tubing which went to the inlet of the water cooling system was placed snugly on the end of the water pump, while the tube from the outlet was left in the open. The water pump was then completely submerged in a bucket of water, with the tubing attached to the water outlet hanging over the water. The system was able to effectively pump water through the cooling pipes save for a couple very minor leaks, but these were patched up with a bit of JB weld. Operation of the diffusion pump in conjunction with the water cooling system has proven extremely effective; that is, the water pump is powerful enough to keep the body of the diffusion pump cooled while it is in operation. With the water cooling system set up and both flanges on the pump made compatible with the rest of the system, the next step was to wire the heating plate up. The pump was originally sold without the original wiring, so there was no way to turn the pump on. As the inside of a diffusion pump consists of a metal plate which is subjected to electrical heating, the wiring was fairly straightforward. The pump was completely disassembled, and it was determined

where a current source was to be connected in order to close the circuit and heat the plate. Insulated wire was bought from Home Depot as well as a hollowed out 3-prong plug. The wires were then taken out of the insulation and securely connected to the appropriate places inside the diffusion pump. A third grounding wire was wrapped around one of the nuts on the side of the diffusion pump, for safety. It was later desired to have a switch implemented in the wiring, so that it would be easier to turn on the diffusion pump. A simple light switch was purchased from home depot, and one of the wires was cut open and connected to this switch. Preliminary testing of the heating system was successful. After a minute or two of the plug being plugged in, a quiet sizzling sound was heard which indicated the internal plate was heating up. In addition, the side of the diffusion pump was hot to the touch. The final step in servicing the diffusion pump was to remove the insides of the pump, thoroughly clean it out, and then place diffusion pump oil inside. The inner workings of the pump consisted of a single conical baffle, and an opening on the side which went to the pumps exhaust. As the pump had not been used in a while, the insides were fairly corroded and dirty. A combination of acetone, paper towels, copper scrubs, and toothbrushes were effective in cleaning out the inside of the pump. 50 cubic centimeters of DC-704 diffusion pump oil was purchased for $25 off ebay. This particular oil was determined to be the best due to both cost and performance considerations. Once the inside of the pump was sufficiently cleaned, the oil was dumped into the bottom of the pump. Finally the inner parts of the pump were carefully placed back inside. Below is a picture of the completed diffusion pump, with all the different subsystems labeled.

6. KF TO KF HOSE

Figure 10: Picture of KF to KF hose used. Next, a small length of hose was used to connect the diffusion pump to the roughing pump. The hose was provided by the lab manager, and had KF 25 flanges on both ends. The centering rings and O-ring gaskets were also provided. 7. ROUGHING PUMP

Figure 11: Picture of the roughing pump used. The final piece of the vacuum system was the roughing pump. The roughing pump used was an Alcatel dual stage rotary vane mechanical pump, and was also provided by the lab manager. The pump had been used in previous experiments, so it was already set up and in working order. Pump oil was already inside, and thus far theres been no need to replace it.

Figure 9: Picture of the finished diffusion pump.

The inlet to the pump is a KF 25 flange, although a right angle valve was placed on top of the inlet so that the gas load to the pump could be controlled. If the pump is connected to an airtight chamber which is reasonably clean (doesnt have fingerprints, dirt, etc inside), it is usually capable of pulling the system down to under 15 mTorr in a matter of minutes. If outgassing is an issue in the system, as is often the case with a chamber which hasnt been pumped down in a while, then the pump can usually drop the system quickly down to 30-50 mTorr. After the pressure plummets to this point within the first minute, it will continue to creep down as the material inside outgases. Tests in which the pump has been left running overnight or over the course of several hours have been successful in dropping the chamber below 5 mTorr. 8. BASEPLATE The baseplate is a 12 inch by 12 inch plate of low carbon steel, half inch thick, purchased off McMaster for $100.38. The plate needed to be machined so that the feedthroughs from various systems could be securely connected to it. Three feedthroughs needed to be drilled completely through the plate: one for the deuterium system, one for the voltage feedthrough, and an opening for the vacuum system. In addition, 12 holes needed to be partially drilled through and threaded to allow the two conflat flanges (one from the vacuum system and one from the voltage feedthrough) to be secured against the plate. Machining the baseplate took several hours, over the course of three days. Originally, everything but the deuterium feedthrough was machined, and the system was tested just on atmospheric plasma. Once it was determined that the system could reliably produce atmospheric plasma, the deuterium feedthrough was to be drilled. TESTING AND TROUBLESHOOTING The vacuum system was initially tested by itself; that is, the end of the tee which would have gone to the chamber was instead connected to a hose which was then blanked off. Because of the small volume of the system (as opposed to if it were connected to a bell jar or large chamber), it was very quick to pump down. Previous experiments with this roughing pump on bigger volumes had been successful in getting the system below 1 mTorr, according to the TC vacuum gauge in the lab. The labs vacuum gauge was used in addition to the gauge bought for this particular experiment in order to test the accuracy of the purchased gauge. In addition, the system used to read off pressure from

the gauge was a little less conventional, so testing needed to be done to ensure it was still accurate. Initial testing of the vacuum system showed that the system struggled to drop below 60 mTorr, which was disheartening given the pumps successful history. The idea was proposed to use a squirt bottle filled with acetone to try and expose any leaks in the system. A light amount of acetone was squirted on all the mated surfaces between parts. When acetone was squirted on the exhaust flange of the diffusion pump both pressure gauges shot up significantly, indicated a leak had been found. JB weld was reapplied over the flange while the vacuum was still going, so that the pressure difference would pull the JB weld through any invisible leaks. Other than this one flange, every other connection proved to be airtight (or rather, acetone-tight). Once the reapplied JB weld had settled, the system was successful in being pulled below 5 mTorr. This was only with the roughing pump. With newfound confidence in the performance of the vacuum system, the next step was to test it on a chamber of decent volume. A spherical steel chamber was already in the lab, and had been used for a similar fusor experiment by a previous student (Brandon Sorbom). The vacuum system was connected to this chamber, and it was able to pump down fairly quickly. It had been a while since this chamber had been pumped down, so there was a significant amount of outgassing due to pollutants inside. The roughing pump was left on overnight, and the next morning it was found that the system was again below 5 mTorr. After several days of testing the effectiveness of the roughing pump on the system, it was time to turn the diffusion pump on. The right angle valve was barely cracked open in order to prevent any possible backstreaming. When the diffusion pump was turned on, the pressure began to slowly creep up. This is typical for a diffusion pump, as the heating of the metal plate (and the oil which rests on top of it) causes additional outgassing of gas trapped inside the oil and walls of the pump. After a few minutes, almost without warning, the pressure of the system launched up to nearly 80 mTorr and rising, usually indicative of backstreaming. The right angle valve was quickly shut and the diffusion pump was turned off. After the oil in the pump had been allowed to cool down for a couple minutes the angled valve was opened again, and the pressure was able to drop down to 5-10 mTorr in a reasonable amount of time. It was originally thought that this peak in pressure indicated the diffusion pump oil had backstreamed into the system. Upon seeing the vacuum have no trouble being restored to its original levels, however, it seemed more likely that the pump was just

outgassing a large amount. After all, it had most likely been over a year since the diffusion pump had been used, so the inside of the pump was probably still fairly dirty (despite being cleaned). The diffusion pump was turned on again, and as soon as the pressure showed signs of shooting up it was turned off and sealed shut again. This was done several times, and after each time of doing this it behaved better. Finally, one run of the diffusion pump proved fruitful. As the heating plate in the pump increased in temperature the pressure began to creep up, but after a certain point the pressure began to flatten out and then creep back down. Once the change in pressure had reversed directions, the diffusion pump stabilized and started working. After no more than 20 minutes, the pressure gauge had bottomed out under .1 mTorr, which is lower than the roughing pump alone had been capable of. The water reservoir for cooling the pump was lukewarm after 20 minutes, but this can be easily remedied by either more water or some ice (if theres ice on hand). A couple more days were dedicated to testing and perfecting the steps in pumping down this steel chamber with the diffusion pump. If the pumping system was completely shut off but the chamber was kept sealed, after about 12 hours the system would rise back up to around one third of atmosphere. If the chamber was kept closed off to atmosphere, though, the system was able to pump down several times faster and did not suffer nearly as much outgassing. At one point the electrical system of this chamber was actually connected, and some atmospheric plasma was lit up using the existing grid design. The final step was to test the vacuum system on the baseplate and bell jar. By this time the steel plate had been completely machined. The bell jar and plate were thoroughly wiped down with acetone, and then the system was set up. As expected, pumping was slower than before due to outgassing. The pump was left on overnight, and the next day the pressure was under 10 mTorr. No significant problems were encountered with testing the bell jar. The same procedure for turning the diffusion pump on and off repeatedly in order to outgas any trapped gasses was still necessary, although not as much. Eventually the diffusion pump was able to stabilize, and the pressure gauge once again was able to max out at .1 mTorr.

ADDITIONAL MODIFICATIONS While testing the power supply and experimenting with different plasmas, one blatant problem in the fusors design became apparent. The baseplate of the fusor was designated to be the positive ground, as it was in electrical contact with the outer grid inside. This plate, however, was in electrical contact with the entire vacuum system from the diffusion pump all the way to the pressure gauge. As the diffusion pump was grounded through the wall, this meant a loss in some of the power supplied. Another problem was encountered when experimenting with smoothing capacitors in the power supply. After every plasma run, the different elements of the circuit were discharged manually by gently touching them with a metal wire, which was connected to the earth ground. The smoothing capacitor was constructed in parallel with a bleeder resistor, and their values were adjusted so that the capacitor should bleed out essentially all of its charge in a couple seconds. Unfortunately, something in the circuit was not completely electrically secure, so when the capacitor was manually discharged there was still a fairly high potential across it. Discharging the capacitor created an audible popping sound, as well as a visible spark. This alone would have been fine, but unfortunately the ground for the wire used was connected to the same ground as the power supply to the pressure gauge. This created an electrical surge through the pressure gauge, frying the circuitry inside. A new gauge was purchased, and an alumina fitting was made to be placed between the vacuum chamber and the pressure gauge. Additionally, one foot of PVC pipe with 2.75 Conflat flanges was placed between the right angle valve and the tee fitting. With these two pieces in place, the vacuum chambers ground was electrically isolated from both the diffusion pump and the pressure gauge. This makes it much safer to operate the diffusion pump (in case, for whatever reason, the ground of the chamber was at some floating voltage), and also protects the individual vacuum components from the high voltages experienced by the chamber. In figure 28, one can see the horizontal clear PVC piping going from the right angle valve to under the chamber. The alumina standoff is above the pressure gauge, but is too small to see.

Pressure Gauging System

Figure 12: Schematic for the pressure gauging system. 1. PIRANI PRESSURE GAUGE 2. WIRING The Pirani gauge requires 20-36 Volts (DC) to operate, and outputs a voltage dependent on the pressure. Typically, a gauge controller is used to read the pressure. The gauge controller interprets the outputted voltage signal (which, despite being dependent on the internal pressure, is not linearly dependent), and converts it into a nice, easy to read number. This can either be digital or in the form of a needle scale. In addition, the controller is usually used to simultaneously power the gauge as well. The RJ45 interface on the gauge allows for 8 different electrical connections. Several of them are used as a ground reference, surge protector, and other optional features. The four important connections are the two that go to the power supply, and two which output a pressure-dependent voltage.

Figure 13: Pirani Gauge The pressure gauge chosen is known as a Pirani gauge, named after its creator. The Pirani gauge is similar to a thermocouple gauge in that it uses the thermal properties of the air in the system to indirectly measure pressure. What makes the Pirani gauge different than a TC gauge is the internal circuitry. Inside a Pirani gauge is a Wheatstone resistor bridge, which is connected to the filament that is subjected to convection cooling inside the chamber. The voltage across one of the legs of the Wheatstone bridge is then related to the pressure of the chamber via empirical data for this gauge. The particular type of Pirani gauge chosen uses a tungsten filament coated in gold, and is capable of reading down to 10^-4 Torr. Since the Pirani gauge is a variation of the TC gauge, it suffers the same inaccuracies at lower pressures. This gauge has a KF16 aluminum flange, and an RJ45 interface on the back end of it.

Figure 14: RJ45 Interface While gauge controllers are typically used with a pressure gauge, they can be unnecessarily expensive in light of cheaper alternatives. The RJ45 interface is used in many electrical appliances, such as the

Ethernet port to most computers. Therefore, a common Ethernet cable was taken apart and rewired for this project. Below is the electrical interfacing for the Pirani gauge, which was used to properly wire the gauge.

plot of voltage vs. pressure, found in the technical data for the Pirani gauges.

Figure 15: Interface for the Pirani gauge Figure 17: Voltage vs. Pressure for both Pirani gauge variations. A common voltmeter, provided by the physics lab, was used to read the outputted voltage. The above figure was then used to manually approximate the corresponding pressure. 4. POWER SUPPLY The Pirani gauge requires 20-36 DC Volts in order to operate properly. This was provided by a low voltage variable power supply taken from the physics lab. This is only a temporary solution, however, as these power supplies are unnecessarily bulky. Many household appliances, such as laptop and phone chargers, use step down transformers to power electrical components. These step down transformers also include rectifying circuitry so that the outputted voltage is DC. In the future, one of these smaller power supplies will be rewired and connected to the Pirani gauge, as they are smaller and more practical.

Figure 16: Wiring for the different electrical contacts in the Pirani gauges interface. The above was provided by Chris Bradley of the fusor.net forums. 3. VOLTMETER As can be seen in Figure 16, the pressuredependent voltage is outputted on electrical contacts 3 and 5. This voltage has a very complicated relationship with the chamber pressure, and usually internal circuitry in a gauge controller is used to output this voltage in an easy to read pressure level. Extensive empirical data, however, has been gathered over the years for this gauge, so that data already exists that manually relates the outputted voltage to its corresponding pressure. Below is a logarithmic

Figure 18: Example of a common step down transformer with internal rectifying circuitry.

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Fusor Chamber Construction

Figure 19: Schematic of the Fusor Chamber, frame, and internal parts.

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1. INNER GRID

grid is composed of three open rings of tungsten wire, which are held together by a sort of crimp. The rings stay in place by virtue of spring tension in the wire. 2. INNER GRID HOLDER

Figure 20: Photograph of the inner grid. The inner grid is the center of the fusor, both literally and figuratively. It is responsible for holding and containing plasma, whether it be composed of deuterium or atmosphere, so it must be able to endure abuse in a particularly heated environment. The grid design is a hot topic for amateur fusioneers, and there have been countless experiments and testing in order to determine the most optimal grid design. One of the things that is known is that the grid needs to be as spherically symmetrically as possible. Any asymmetry in the geometry results in the resulting electric field being skewed. If the electrical field has some obvious flaws in its symmetry, jets of ions can shoot out and make it more difficult to contain the plasma. Another consideration for the inner grid is that it needs to be very transparent. Ions in the system will be oscillating back and forth through the center of the inner grid. Every time an ion leaves the inner grid and is pulled back in, it has a chance of colliding with the grid itself. If this happens, the energy of the ion is lost to the grid, which in turn heats up. By using thinner wire, the ions which make up the plasma are less likely to collide with the grid and can therefore recirculate longer and have a greater chance of fusing. Heating of the grid carries its own risks as well, as it is possible for it to deform or even melt if it is heated up too much. After many considerations, it was decided that the final grid would be made of half millimeter diameter tungsten wire. Tungsten was chosen because it has the highest melting point of all metals, and can be bought for a reasonable price. 5 feet of half millimeter tungsten wire was purchased off Amazon for $5. The grid design used in this experiment was inspired by Jon Rosenstiel and Wilfried Heil of the fusor.net forums. The advantage of this design is that it requires no welding, since welding only leaves potential weak spots when the grid is heated up. The

Figure 21: Photograph of the inner grid holder The inner grid holder was made out of a .375 inch diameter, 1 inch long stainless steel rod. 6 half millimeter holes were drilled on the top of the rod, evenly spaced out and about an eighth of an inch in. On the other side, a single hole was drilled about a third of an inch in to allow the holder to sit on top of the voltage feedthrough. Below is a picture of the grid and grid holder resting on top of the electrical feedthrough.

Figure 22: Photograph of the inner grid held together by the inner grid holder, which is resting on the electric feedthrough.

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3. ALUMINA SLEEVE

Three legs were then created out of straight segments of wire. The legs of the wire as well as the size of the outer grid were carefully measured out so that, when everything was set in place, the inner grid would rest in the center of the outer grid. The three legs of wire were able to hold the outer grid up, with the inner grid being centered. 5. BASEPLATE Upon initial testing with the outer grid inside of the vacuum, it was quickly realized that the outer grid wasnt stable in its current form. While it would stand up straight, small vibrations from operation of the valves would cause the legs of the grid to slowly move around. To fix this, three small holes were drilled into the baseplate, spaced out enough for the legs of the grid to rest inside them. Further testing with this modification was successful in that the outer grid did not move around anymore.

Figure 23: Photograph of alumina sleeve used to insulate electric feedthrough. The next step was to create an electrically insulating sleeve to go around the voltage feedthrough, so that it couldnt arc towards the outer grid. Alumina (or aluminum oxide) is a ceramic that is popular in high voltage applications. It handles heat extremely well and has one of the highest electrical resistivities known to man. A one foot long hollow tube of alumina was purchased off McMaster for $50. As one foot was too long to fit inside the system, the alumina needed to be cut. A dremel, equipped with a circular saw covered in diamond dust, was used to cut through the alumina. Ceramics tend to be harder than most metals, so standard cutting tools wont work on them. Diamond, which is famous for being one of the hardest known materials, is commonly used to cut through materials too hard for metal. 4. OUTER GRID Most fusors are built in a metal, typically steel, chamber. Because of this, the chamber itself is often used as the outer grid. This project, however, was done in a Pyrex bell jar, so the chamber itself could not serve as the outer grid. An outer grid was constructed out of stainless steel wire. Stainless steel was used, as opposed to tungsten, because it is significantly cheaper and wont be subjected to nearly as hot of an environment as the inner grid. Despite it being further away from the plasma, it is still too hot for conventional solders, such as lead or silver, to be effective. If solder were used to hold the grid together, it would likely sputter or melt off, creating a mess inside the chamber. The outer grid was designed similar to the inner grid in that it was comprised of several rings of metal wire. Three rings were oriented perpendicular to each other in order to span all three spatial dimensions.

Figure 24: Photograph of the outer grid, along with the inner grid, inner grid holder, and alumina sleeve inside, all sitting on top of the baseplate.

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6. BELL JAR

system later on showed, this method was effective in sealing this hole. Ideally in a fusor, one would want to use a metal chamber. Not only can a metal chamber act as an outer grid, it is also safer. Metal tends to bend and warp when subjected to a pressure greater than what its designed to handle, while glass will simply shatter without warning. As there is a constantly applied pressure due to atmosphere around the outside of the jar, there is a greater risk of danger in using a glass container. That said, a glass vessel has the advantage of being more visually appealing. With metal chambers, one often has to use either a tiny viewport or a remote camera to witness the inside of the fusor. With a clear bell jar, the reactor can be running and the user is free to walk around and have access to 360 degrees of vision on whats happening inside. 7. GASKET

Figure 25: Photograph of the Pyrex bell jar used. The bell jar was the very first item obtained, and was purchased for $40 on ebay. The bell jar is made of borosilicate glass, more commonly known by its trademark name Pyrex. Pyrex is a good material for vacuum science because it has a low outgassing rate, and is able to handle heat better than normal glass. The bell jar was bought with little information available, other than that it was supposedly capable of withstanding atmosphere. The top of the bell jar had a hole on the top in addition to being open on the bottom. Unfortunately, the hole on the top was far too uneven of a surface to be made airtight, and thus was unusable. The first step was to even out the surface of the top feedthrough. A metal file was used to patiently whittle down the glass on the top of the jar, until the surface was even enough to mate with flat surfaces. Originally, there were plans to either introduce the electric feedthrough or pressure gauge through this hole. As the fusor design became more sophisticated, however, it became clear that this hole was more of a liability than a privilege. Eventually it was decided to just completely seal this hole off. A flat piece of scrap aluminum was cold welded over the hole, with the help of some JB weld. As testing with the vacuum

Figure 26: Photograph of the gasket used for the bell jar. While the bottom lip of the bell jar is flat enough to rest smoothly on another flat surface, there are still microscopic flaws in the roughness of the surface which will prevent an airtight seal from being formed. For this reason, a rubber gasket is placed between the bell jar and the baseplate that it rests on. Research into gaskets showed that Viton was the most ideal reusable gasket for high vacuums. A 12 inch by 12 inch sheet of Viton, 1/16th inch thick, was bought off McMaster for $31.89. A gasket of appropriate size was then cut out of this sheet using a compass and a box cutter. Originally, this sheet of Viton was used to cut the gaskets for every mating surface in the vacuum system. Before the system was built, however, these handmade gaskets were tossed aside in favor of manufactured gaskets.

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8. FRAME

finished, the final step was to create a frame on which the chamber could rest. The frame was cut by hand from wood bought at Home Depot (in total it probably cost around $15). The individual wood segments were attached with gorilla glue. Careful planning went into designing the dimensions of the frame. The total height of the vacuum system had to be determined beforehand, so that everything could rest snugly underneath the chamber. In addition, the part on which the baseplate laid had to be measured out so that there was no risk of it falling through or shifting.

Figure 27: Photograph of the frame which supports the chamber. With the container being completely vacuum sealed as well as the chambers inside design

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Figure 28: Final chamber design with bell jar, including framework and internal grid structures. In the bottom left (blue) is the diffusion pump, with the (orange) Alcatel roughing pump behind it. One can see the water lines and electrical wiring connected to the diffusion pump as well. Underneath the baseplate is the Pirani gauge (red), which has a yellow Ethernet cable plugged into it. This Ethernet cable goes up to a low DC voltage power supply in the background (the big grey box) and a voltmeter to read out the pressure (orange and green).

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