X-ray fluorescence gun

[boji]

Thought some of you would enjoy this:  Applied Science guy breaks down an older XRF gun that uses single-turn transformers and diode ladders suspended in oil to get to -40kV     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdfHVcU8U7U

 

[gyraf]

Oh yeah, saw that. Excellent channel, that one.

I'd REALLY like to have access to such a x-ray spectrometer - would make it fun to reverse-engineer some of the more obscure stuff like transformer cores and membrane alloys..

May I point you to another channel with high nerdic qualities: "Curious Marc" - https://www.youtube.com/user/mverdiell - e.g. the series about restoring the Apollo AGC is a good intro point for new viewers..

/Jakob E.

 

[12afael]

would be cool to test those rare V76 transformer laminations but I bet does not say anything about the cell structure

 

[Ricardus]

May I point you to another channel with high nerdic qualities: "Curious Marc" - https://www.youtube.com/user/mverdiell - e.g. the series about restoring the Apollo AGC is a good intro point for new viewers..

/Jakob E.

Curious Marc's channel is my favorite channel right now. ALL of this restoration are amazing. And he actually had Ben Krasnow on one of the episodes of the AGC restoration. Ben made a replica of the DSKY screen.

 

[boji]

May I point you to another channel with high nerdic qualities

Yes I devoured that whole series awhile back,  Thank you! 

Should anyone care to speculate how unwinding a roll of scotch tape produces super high voltages, I'm all ears.  =D

 

[gyraf]

..the unwinding scotch-tape is about ripping away molecules in a way electrons gets left behind. Effect is (afaik) actually used for low-tech xray photo where power and technology is limited.. If you ever ripped off tape in the dark - e.g. opened tape-closed packages for photographic paper in a darkroom, you'll sometimes have seen a strange glow at the rip edge..

/Jakob E.