Models Suitable for Display

rcain · Post by **rcain** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:29 pm

... i have got as far as breaking apart an old psu transformer to salvage coils/enameled copper wire. (took me the best part of an hour).

connecting to a 1.5v penlight battery in close proximity to my plasma globe - made no appreciable difference to it.

experiments continue (with a bigger battery) - later...

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:22 am

I don't calculate, but think it's going to take amp-turns to make a difference. A potentially easy test is to put one of the small (therefore cheap), but powerful rare-earth magnets near the plasma globe.

If amp-turns are the important parameter, it's going to be hard to make a pretty display one can see through the coils.

On another front, I'm still waiting for the more elaborate model to ship. It's "In production".

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:16 pm

I regret that I have been extremely busy this past week. But, I did locate a couple of super magnets in my garage while gathering materials. I had hoped to try them out last night, however, my wife and kids had other ideas. Home from work, then right out the door again for the evening. Hopefully this afternoon I get a crack at it.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:13 pm

Well, I took a super magnet and my son and I played with it around the plasma globe. It did seem to pull arcs more so than just using your finger, but no deflections occured. It was also not a visually giant jump in arc pulls, but it did seem more. Now when I rotated it 90 degrees to end on, it did not seem to pull arcs. Hard to tell cause I did notice that my big meaty fingers were probably too close. I am going to have to rig it with some sort of handling/standoff rig so I can keep my fingers out of the equation. I am also planning to use a current limited battery charger I have on hand to drive an improvised coil.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Shapeways says my order has shipped, but if it's like last time, they might have shipped short...

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:11 pm

Magnets are a lot more impressive around an old CRT oscilloscope, and they have profound effects on Hirsch-Farnsworth fusors. I've never been all that impressed by their effects on those Tesla-coily desktop toys.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:28 pm

I think I need to get a winding rigged for a wider field effect.

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:43 pm

Years ago I took a 12 KV neon sign transformer and some glass and I made it draw an arc between the two secondary leads. Using the glass to protect me from the arc, I placed the body of a soldering gun near the arc and squeezed the trigger. The alternating magnetic field caused the arc to form an oval, which I found amusing.

I think at the time I had an idea of using the effect to generate and launch plasma balls or something. Hobbying around is fun, but responsibilities always seem to get in the way.

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:50 pm

Hmmm, better yet than a Weller 8200, its big brother, my fender-repair spot welder (bought for making Fusor grids). Same idea but on steroids: the primary runs at 120 V, 15-20 A, the secondary is about 3/4 turn of structural copper. Run thru a couple of turns of heavy copper wire it ought to make a bitchin' 60 Hz magnet.

The Fusor demo unit is presently running on a 15 kV 60 mA neon sign transformer.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:07 am

Anyone working with a plasma globe is more likely to "wrap" a single coil around the globe:

When I finished this I zoomed back and it reminded me of a Garrison Keillor song about state fair food: "It's on a Stick."

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:45 pm

rjaypeters wrote:Anyone working with a plasma globe is more likely to "wrap" a single coil around the globe:

Purdy! A bow-legged single turn MPG.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:09 pm

And in the same vein, an octahedron wrapped around a sphere (probably the simplest to make):

This view always reminds me of Deep Space Nine and "It's on a Stick!"

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:53 pm

It has arrived. Pictures tomorrow p.m. I hope because if the weather cooperates I get good morning sun on my cubical top (which is a real pain for my cubical mates - another story).

Of course, it is small but the "transparent" surfaces that are more nearly vertical when printed are closer to "opaque" than "transparent. Conversely, the flat bottom of the pyramidal base is a really good optical interface and one can see the other surfaces of the pyramidal base quite clearly.

One begins to think of polishing...I don't have any jeweler's rouge around, but I'd want to start with really mild abrasives. I'll probably just rub the non-flat base surfaces first with my thumb to see how they respond.

The "black detailed" is just that and the rings look good. All of the geometries looked pretty good. Though the top ring doesn't fit perfectly well on the nublets, the ring does sit well on top of the five-ring assembly, so it's not an issue.

P.S. This assembly makes just-about the world's worst candy dish, at least from the perspective of ease of access (have to lift two things to get the M&Ms out). Also, the narrow base makes the central volume pretty tippy. OTOH, if you want you candy to be hard-to-get this assembly may be the ticket.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:41 pm

The funny thing is the only backgrounds I have at work are white, black or beige, exactly the colors I don't need.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:42 pm

So jeweler's rouge, Dremel tool buffing pad and five minutes work had no effect except to stain a quadrant of a face jeweler's rouge color. Didn't wash off too well, either. There might have been a slight reduction in grain height, but it's hard to tell with the stain.

I am open to suggestions.