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building a quarter shrinker
Posted by Aaron on 5/29/2005, 1:09 pm
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Re: building a quarter shrinker
Posted by Bert Hickman on 5/29/2005, 3:20 pm, in reply to "building a quarter shrinker" Hello Aaron, First, you need to become experienced working with safer, lower energy high voltage projects, such as flyback transformers, neon sign transformers, Jacob's Ladders, and Tesla Coils. An electrical engineering degree is also quite helpful, since there are many ways to get injured or killed when working with high energy high voltage capacitors, and it only takes one little mistake. There are hazards from flying coil fragments that explode with bullet-like speed, and potentially hazardous residual capacitor charge after each shot. I don't provide plans for making quarter shrinkers, but I have helped a number of experienced high voltage enthusiasts construct theirs. You should not attempt to construct a quarter shrinker until you have at least a few years experience in working with high voltage. Assuming you do have this, you'll need to develop a high voltage DC power supply and metering circuitry, and you'll need to acquire special, high energy discharge capacitors (these are heavy, costly, and usually quite expensive). The HV capacitors are probably the most difficult parts to locate. They must be low inductance, oil immersed, metal-film capacitors - electrolytic capacitors will not work. They should be rated for discharge currents of 50,000 amperes or higher, and be rated for at least 20% voltage reversal. You'll also need to make a high voltage high current switch (this can be a home made contactor or a triggered spark gap). You'll also need to make a blast chamber to safely contain all the coil fragments, and the chamber must be very reliable since your life depends upon it. The system should have the appropriate interlocks to prevent accidental contact with any high voltage areas, control and measurement circuitry to allow you to charge the capacitor bank to the desired energy level, and safety circuitry to quickly shut down and bleed charge off the capacitor bank in the event of an emergency shutdown or failure of the HV switch to properly "fire". The bottom line: Best regards, Bert
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