Vacuum

2004

"Neon" sign A small sign made to spell out my initials

2005

Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor A rather inept attempt at making a fusor. Mostly just nice plasma pictures.

2006

High-current feedthroughs Two high-current vacuum feedthroughs using PTFE bar as the insulator

Stainless-steel bellows Some sources of stainless-steel flexible bellows for vacuum use

Diffusion-pumped vacuum system A diff pump system intended for mirror coating

Simple HV feedthrough A basic high voltage feedthrough built from glass tube and stainless rod

Thermionic emission Demonstration of electron emission from a heated tungsten filament

Thin-film thermopile A copper-aluminium thermopile made by thermal evaporation

2007

Capacitance manometer dissection The innards of a capacitance manometer

2010

Panaplex display A seven-segment gas discharge "Panaplex" display in a jam jar.

Houskeeper seals Details on the technique of making glass-to-metal tubular joints, which rely on the plastic deformation of a feathered metal edge to achieve the seal. No fancy glass sealing alloy is required.

Reed switch wires as glass-metal seals Reed switches provide a source of alloy wire, suitable for sealing to soft glass

Second Panaplex display A miniature Panaplex display based on a commercial device

2011

Vacuum filling manifold Gas manifold for a vacuum pump to allow devices to be evacuated and filled with gas.

Customised text discharge tube Glow-discharge tube with a cathode spelling out text