Re: [TCML] Vacuum Pump Question

[Scott Bogard <sdbogard@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've used an air conditioning pump for all my plasma experiments, I have no
idea its lower limit, but it gets low enough to ionize undiluted air, using
a 30 or so watt flyback driver, but if you are going for absolute purity
might not be the best.  What I do for plasma, is vacuum for about 15
minutes, back fill with argon, repeat until I have pure argon, usually takes
5 cycles to get argon pure enough to show up peach orange at my
frequencies.  The same method could easily be used for CO2, as it is cheap,
and it would just be a matter of getting to a low enough final pressure,
which I cannot say for certain any ac compressor can...  Best of luck, my
advice is try it and see how it goes.

Scott Bogard.

On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 2:32 PM, Weinhold Shannon L <
Shannon.L.Weinhold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I've used a refrigerator pump to pump down a 5 gallon glass jug far enough
> to make plasma. Have no idea about the strength of a ac pump.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mike hollingsworth [mailto:megavolts_61@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 9:46 AM
> To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [TCML] Vacuum Pump Question
>
> I think I'd opt for the a/c compressor, but you do want to think about how
> to recirculate the oil.   I looked at the Food Saver and it says that is
> designed NOT to crush the food.   It sounds to me like it intentionally
> limits the vacuum and would not likely get down to the approx. 0.1 Torr that
> you desire.
> Mike
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Harold Weiss <hweiss@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, October 7, 2011 9:41 PM
> Subject: [TCML] Vacuum Pump Question
>
> Hi All,
>
> This is a little off topic, but applies to Geisler/neon/laser tubes.
>
> Has anyone used, or tried to use, a vacuum pump out of a Food Saver for
> pumping down to around a torr or less, or is it too leaky for that kind of
> vacuum?
>
> In this case, I'd like to use it for a small low flow CO2 laser.  I'd also
> like to try using it for some of Tesla's lighting experiments once I get
> better at glass blowing.
>
> I do have a pump out of an air conditioner if this won't work.
>
> David Weiss
> _______________________________________________
> Tesla mailing list
> Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
> _______________________________________________
> Tesla mailing list
> Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
>
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla