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RE: Tungsten



I am alittle concerned about the Thoriated type. Thorium is a radio active
element that emits mainly Alpha radiation I believe. It decays into other
isotopes, I don't remember which. It's been a VERY long time since I studied
this subject but I am concerned about the thorium becoming vaporized and
being breethed in. In fact, I wonder how they get away with the thorium in
the white gas lamps I am so familiar with. 

Maybe it's not all that dangerous or maybe thorium isn't vaporized as the
white hit temperatures of a lamp.

Alpha wave radiation if strong enough might cause sunburn, wouldn't
penetrate much deeper than the skin If that deep, but if it were deposited
in the lungs this would be a different story altogether.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 12:00 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE: Tungsten


Original poster: "Ted Rosenberg" <Ted.Rosenberg-at-radioshack-dot-com> 

Finn:
As I have said before (with a smile) get 10 coilers together, ask one
question and you get 12 answers. And probably all 12 are right.

I have seen posts that say that using a hacksaw takes muscle, time
and...more time. Yet you find it no trouble. Today, I received mail from
Scott Hanson who cautioned that the thoriated version was not as good as
pure tungsten. And that the pure variaty was OK as is.

I guess the best approach is to try what you think will work and if it does,
wonderful. If not, try something else. Like building a tank cap for $10 <big
smile>.

I will surely post the results of my electrode operation. Any bets folks?

Safety...and Goggles

Ted

Subject: Re: Tungsten

Original poster: "Finn Hammer" <f-hammer-at-post5.tele.dk> 
> 
> Original poster: "Ted Rosenberg" <Ted.Rosenberg-at-radioshack-dot-com>
> snip
> Once you get the rods you'll have to look into a method of
> cutting to the desired length. I have a Dremel Diamond Cutting Wheel
> ($21.00) on order.

I have said it before, and I will say it again:

It doesn`t take more than a couple of minutes, to cut a 5/16" rod of
2%thorium/tungsten with an ordinary hacksaw, equipped with an (around)
30 teeth per inch High Speed Steel (HSS) blade.

There are fancier methods around, but this is the one I resort to every
time still.

Once cut, mount the bits in an electric drill, and rotate them with it,
while you press the end of the electrode-to -be against a grinding
wheel, or a belt sander. Be garefull if you use a grinding wheel, it
tends to knock the electrode/drilllingmachine back untill a nice true
surface is obtained.

Hemispherical ends are rather easy to make this way too, and for static
gaps, my favourite, the Rukowski lookalike profile (big radius across
most of the surface, progressing into a nice small radius blending into
the shaft) -Not too hard to make.

Cheers, Finn Hammer