[Matt] has a background in radiation, electronics, and physics, which means that it is only a matter of time before building a device that produces X-rays. Is this something everyone should try? [Matt] discourages anyone from trying such a thing, but if you are looking for a project with a talent for “because it’s there,” then building your own X-ray machine might Very interesting and rewarding project.

Although frightening and mysterious, X-ray is a fairly old technology, its history can be traced back to some of the first purposeful experiments in electronics. Most of today's X-ray equipment is built around the same part 100 years ago, the Coolidge tube. Applying a sufficiently high voltage to the Coolidge tube, electrons fly from the cathode to the anode, and then hit the heavy metal target. This produces Bremsstrahlung radiation-X-rays that break the brakes-which can be directed onto a film or X-ray intensifier screen, and when illuminated by X-rays, it will fluoresce in visible light.

In addition to cheap Coolidge tubes, [Matt] used a voltage multiplier to make the rest of his X-ray generator, which was made of fully derated Chinese capacitors, a flyback transformer, and a Transformer driver manufactured for induction heating applications. The electronic equipment is installed in a Tupperware container and insulated with mineral oil.

Being able to generate X-rays is one thing, observing them is quite another. For this, [Matt] used an old X-ray intensifier screen from the 60s or 70s. This screen emits blue fluorescence, which is not the easiest color to shoot in low-light environments, but it is enough to capture images of the interior of the tools around his workbench. Following in the footsteps of [Roentgen], [Matt] also took an X-ray of his hand. This is something he doesn't recommend, and he won't do it again, but this is a very cool example of what you can do with enough knowledge and respect what can kill you.

"Bremse" means "brake" in German, and Bremsstrahlung is more like "braking radiation" than "destroying X-rays"-rays will not damage anything (well, if you hold it in the beam for too long , Maybe your hand); the electrons in the tube will slow down when they hit the tungsten anode, and X-rays will be generated in the process. I am envious of his cheap Coolidge tube, which is not the kind of thing you often see floating around at an affordable price.

The link is not good-the case is important. Lower X. http://sigurthrenterprises.blogspot.com/2015/12/portable-diy-x-ray-source-radiography.html

By the way, your link to the author's post is broken. Need to update the link.

Maybe an old CRT, shrink it, use one of the old cameras, I'm not sure you will go that far. If you can draw half a decent vacuum, you can always use just a roll of tape. Maybe if you are one of the people trying to make your own valve. Magnetrons and some tungsten bulbs may be the best choice. How difficult it is, one of them is because I can instantaneously. In theory, it should be possible to manufacture antennas in the x-ray range. I would love to see xray LED :D

"Tungsten filaments", if you have enough of them, you can melt them into a nice big piece with induction heating coils. Regrettably, the electric suspension in the induction heating coil is only suitable for aluminum, copper, iron and chromium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVtcp4JZ8FA

Due to the high melting point, it is painful to heat something by induction and conduct its heat into tungsten. Maybe put it in an inert atmosphere and heat it electrically, using resistance and applying a lot of current. A few microwave oven transformers can do it. Although several magnetrons may be able to deliver enough energy to melt them into a mass.

If the X-ray tube is kept small, not much is needed.

The tungsten wire will melt, there is no problem with induction heating, but the suspended part does not work. Therefore, you need a special high-temperature refractory ceramic crucible to hold it at its melting point of 3422 °C/6192 °F, and it is expensive.

In a very small area, you can burn two filaments and one filament on the car headlight bulb of low beam headlights and maintain the plasma arc. Use several neodymium magnets to guide it so as not to damage other filaments or break the glass. This should cause the filament to bead on one of the conductors and become a target. The second filament will become a heater. Air pressure will be an issue, but it might save some time to build it.

Obviously crazy YouTubers seem to find that light bulbs and old vacuum tubes work without modification. Just apply a lot of volts.

I remember a book from the 70s and 80s. There were a bunch of cheap DIY electronic projects, one of which was an X-ray machine. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that the source of their increased voltage is an auto-ignition coil and a rotating spark gap. Their temporary X-ray tube uses a transparent filament bulb and the entire metal base and inside as an electron emitter. On the outside of the top, tin foil is used as an anode.

I helped a friend in the scrapyard, and he obtained about twelve X-ray sources from the X-ray scanner at the airport.

It is a briefcase-sized metal box with an X-ray tube and embedded 175KV power supply. The box is sealed and equipped with insulating oil pipe fittings.

We have about a dozen available for sale, and I am about to list and link to the garage sales section on Hackaday.io on my .io page.

Would anyone be interested in these things?

(Contact me directly through the .io page via the link in my signature.)

(Please also note-you don't have to drive the tube with the full 175KV voltage. If you take some precautions and do some research, X-rays are safe, namely: http://web-docs.gsi.de /~stoe_exp/ web_programs/x_ray_absorption/index.php)

It's always good to have friends like this (:

The owner of the scrapyard asked us to dismantle the machine and keep things. We did some odd jobs on the spot, such as repairing security cameras.

In his opinion, all machines are "light rail", which is almost worthless to him.

We have about 10 boxes of CNC parts: linear guides and bearings, linear actuators, pneumatic valves, power supplies, steppers... all kinds of things. I have a turbomolecular pump, three GPS boards, a mass flow controller and three 15KW X-band microwave transmitters. This is 10 times the power of consumer-grade microwave ovens.

We *originally* planned to sell on eBay, but the bottom has already exited the remaining market. We can hardly sell most products on eBay for more than $20. At this price, it is not worth the time to take down the machine to get the parts. (One exception: we did sell a high-priced item.)

The plan now is to use the toolkit to build things in the local hacker space and sell one or two large items when we find it.

With such microwave transmitters, (provided that you can make a generator that can power them), if ww3 finally happens in our lifetime, then on the turret, it will be a pretty terrible thing.

I am fascinated by such market stories. Do you have more information to share on this topic?

I will definitely be interested! Publish a sales link when it starts. Also, your other scraps sound great!

Ballsy, speaking of the ball, it's a pity that he has withered away now. But it would be nice to talk seriously about radiation safety.

Yes, in fact X-ray equipment is regulated at the state level. One of the reasons why you didn't see much in Ben Krasnow's X-ray experiments.

I think you have greatly overestimated the impact of small doses of ionizing radiation.

The source I mentioned below said that he gets about 1000 R/hour of energy from an ordinary vacuum tube-I would not call it a "small dose", which is a lethal dose. Well, I know, it is measured very close to the tube. It is almost impossible to obtain a whole body dose of this magnitude from that tiny source, but still be careful.

I have placed a dental X-ray on the shelf for about a year, and have been looking for a way to use it without photo paper or enhancers. Suddenly it shocked me: I still have some A3 size EL foil on my shelf. Can you use that? It turns out that you can: https://flic.kr/p/oHCTZY. I placed a mirror behind the aluminum foil at a 45-degree angle so that my camera would not be in the X-ray stream and would perform long exposures when the light was dim. Of course, this is in the basement, with the business end of the pipe facing down, and I want to go back and avoid the light.

Do not. I did not take the X-ray myself. .

Maybe you prefer to use satellite speakers and use synthetic aperture for scanning. Cover up the speakers to increase the resolution. I think the disadvantage is that mathematics is painful.

In fact, it is very easy to use a relatively ordinary vacuum tube as an X-ray source, as long as you have the correct type of vacuum tube. Rectifier diodes are simple and cheap (a few dollars each), and can produce very dangerous soft X-rays. I have a bunch of them, but never really tried it, I prefer uranium type people (minerals) :). http://danyk.cz/rtg_en.html

Oh, I forgot one thing-some tubes even have X-ray ratings in their specifications, and sometimes TVs are equipped with lead shields for this reason.

This is really stupid and dangerous. You will not only put your health at risk, but also put your family and neighbors at risk. Looking for another DIY project. This is also illegal.

Interesting-can you explain why this should be illegal?

In the United States, the NRC stated that it is illegal to operate or manufacture X-ray generating equipment without a license.

I also suggest not to do this, but I think it is unlikely that such a pipe will have enough power to actually affect the neighbors. Remember that CRT tubes like old TVs and oscilloscopes also work on the same principle, but they are designed with glass and phosphor layers to absorb all of them. So a wall should also block the radiation of any small tubes well. Of course, the output will also spread with distance. Nevertheless, I still avoid it, and I agree that in general, playing Fallout is also tricky for others, and you should take this into consideration.

He is in good shape, but someone should have told him about soft/hard X-rays.

If you want to do some experiments like "slap my hand with X-rays", please wrap your X-ray source in aluminum foil. This will filter out the soft part and leave the hard part. Soft X-rays are of no use. They are mainly absorbed by your skin and will only increase your accumulated radiation dose. Hard X-rays pass through your body and will only be absorbed by your body; this is X-ray film development and The reason why the detector provides a digital image.

The alligator clip wire there must have a fairly low filament current. The tube I dealt with consumes 10 amps or even hundreds of amps of filament current. Although it looks like a very small tube, if we can help it, we don't want our tube to emit X-rays.

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