Re: X-ray with small TC as driver

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jack Vandam" <snotoir7674g-at-mindspring-dot-com> 

A lot of items can generate x-rays: old light bulbs and some new ones, radio
and other tubes, radiometers, etc.... the concept is fascinating alright.
The input voltage is directly proportional to penetrating ability.  The
small coil I used only produces about 20 Kv or so, so the x-rays are
relatively weak (soft), but will expose film.  Now the same setup but with
100 Kv input would have much more significant penetrating power.  The house
and brick wall I currently use as barriers wouldn't be enough.  I remember
my experiments from the early '90s and the 100 Kv x-rays would go through
just about anything I had here, except moderately thick steel or lead.

Ultimately, however, I'm always reminded of a man named Harry Cox, who
played around with an antique x-ray tube and a Rhumkorff 4" spark coil,
which I believe was his design.  He didn't last too long because of
excessive, unprotected experimentation and ended up dying of cancer.  So,
beautiful as the glass walls look, it's best to look at them remotely, with
plenty of shielding between you and the bulb, rather than directly.  And I'm
not so sure that with the larger coils, just having a bulb or tube laying in
the vicinity might be hazardous.  We've all seen what coils do to
fluorescent lights at great distances, so why not other types of bulbs as
well.  Just something to think about.

Jack

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 5:28 PM
Subject: Re: X-ray with small TC as driver


 > Original poster: "J. B. Weazle McCreath" <weazle-at-hurontel.on.ca>
 >
 >
 > Hello Coilers,
 >
 > I've been following this thread with interest and also doing some
 > further reading thanks to Google searches.  It seems that amateur
 > X-ray experimenting is not uncommon at all, and is yet one more
 > application of a Tesla Coil.
 >
 > In checking an old RCA receiving tube manual, I found that many
 > of the older color TVs used beam triodes as a regulator for the
 > CRT high voltage.  These tubes can be X-ray producers when they
 > are operated with their anodes at 10 KV or higher.  Several had
 > particular mention of X-ray production, the 6BK4B and the 6EL4,
 > to name just two.
 >
 > Stay safe...it's not just the high voltage that's the hazard!!
 >
 > 73, Weazle, VE3EAR/VE3WZL
 >
 > Details of my "Hyperbaric Gap" and Tesla coil are at:
 > http://www.hurontel.on.ca/~weazle
 >
 >