Re: new x-ray machine

So, it doesn't bother you to have goat crap in your water?

You never know, you never know.

We have quite a few at home - here is the most prominent one:

:)

If you wish to re-purpose a valve/tube that was not intended as an x-ray tube, instead of a PD500 etc. it is better to use a 6BC-1 because it produces a focussed electron beam that makes a small spot on the anode - though it cannot handle very high voltage and also the anode melts easily unless extremely low beam current is used (which is sensible anyway): See:

See also the text on: believe this fellow was selling these tubes along with fluorescent screens and image intensifiers, until he received a visit from the authorities and the website was disappeared

I was just talking to a guy about that this morning. Kids are too protected and afraid of electricity and soldering irons and stuff. They huddle way up in the abstraction stack where it's safe.

We were free-range brats and did all sorts of risky stuff. Gunpowder, neon sign transformers, old tube TV sets, dangerous stuff we could buy at any chemical supply house. Potassium nitrate. Iodine crystals. Nitrobenzene.

In high school, we had radioactive sample things sort of like poker chips. I used to carry them in my pants pocket.

<big snip>

However, in the Socialist Republic of California they seem to be taught it is safe to walk out in street traffic without looking, because "pedestrians always have the right of way". Good grief.

> Very old picture (20 years or so ago), HV generator...:

John Larkin claims not to feel fear - which may just means that he lacks the imagination to realise that things can go wrong.

He doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between rational caution and irrational panic and seems to see lot more of the latter than the rest of us.

Or what we call pedestrian crossings in Australia. Not giving a pedestrian right-of-way on one of them can lead to a substantial fine, but kids are taught not rely on drivers seeing them and giving them right-of-way. Even the most attentive driver can get distracted.

Real X-ray generating tubes use a rotation Wolfram target. I came upon this in the 80's with Philips Tomoscan machines. They could regulate the voltage to generate X-rays of different color. We were in the process of convincing the bean counters that this potentially could be a great diagnostic tool, then all contractors were sacked.

Groetjes Albert

Some do. Wolfram is Dutch/German. In english we say tungsten.

If you want serious X-rays, use a synchrotron and a magnetic beam wiggler or unduator.

Perhaps because they realised that you didn't know as much as you needed to.

Any support on small assemblies , i can do , kindly include me in your needs. Thanks Babu Ramabadhran

That person was in the UK, where it is indeed possible to buy such things and is not stricly illegal if they are used in accordance with health and safety regulations, probably similar to where you are. I think his mistake was to advertise them. On the other hand, in Australia it is an offence to even possess one without a licence, and aside from (possibly sensible and reasonable) technical requirements, that also involves paying an annual fee, and I suspect is unlikely to be granted if you only have a residential address.Whilst it is equally illegal to use something not intended as an x-ray tube to generate x-rays, it is less likely to attract attention.

Personally I cannot see much difference between possessing a cabinet x-ray machine that produces x-rays internally but does not emit measurable amounts of x-rays, and possessing a CRT television that produces x-rays internally but does not emit measurable amounts of x-rays. On the other hand I'm sure that the authorities would see these two things as different: in the first instance the x-rays are useful, so they would want their licence fee, and would ideally prefer to prevent the activity entirely.

Much like EMC regulations - it is illegal to produce a radio transmitter using certain frequencies to convey information, even if the same amount of RF can legally be emitted at the same frequency as long as it is useless hash from a SMPS. They just want to make sure nobody has any fun.