X-Rays from a Vacuum Tube and Induction Coil

[brewers2150]

Why Aquarium glass? Was that just what you had on hand, or does it contain lead?

[RebelForPeace]

very nice pictures man, please tell me can the OB3 vacuum tube produce X-rays? i plan to make a nice nightlight from it, and now i am a bit afraid. Is that radiation dangerous?

[0kynan0]

could i use a microwave oven transformer to power a x-ray tube

[AScannerClearly]

@0kynan0 Highly doubtful; microwave transformers I don't think reach a high enough voltage in order to produce X-rays of sufficient energy to even escape the glass of the tube. Something with 20,000 volts is about the minimum.

[twilson1118]

Do you think a cdv-715 or cdv 715 Civil defense ion chamber would go off on a setup like this? there is one video showing it with a very large tube on a 715 on youtube, something around 2-3 R/Hr.

[AScannerClearly]

@twilson1118 I'm not sure my own tube would scale on that thing, but I was recently able to obtain a pen dosimeter, which is much better at X-ray measuring than any of my 2 Geiger-Muller tubes, and it showed that at a distance of 15 cm, my tube puts off about 105 mR per minute.

[glaglaglaglaeddy]

Wow, the physics of electromagnetic waves is mind-boggling to me.

[TheReal1inflater]

Great pictures man.. witch such a weak tube, you have achieved perfect results.

I own a heated beam tetrode "6VS-1", which emits copious amount of x-rays when the heater is on. I have tried to record a movie 640x480 30fps in the dark, but all I got was just a blue glow from a blue scheelite screen, no realtime x-ray whatsoever. So I'll try the "long exposure" photo as you did, for 5-6 seconds. Mine valve "shines" enough to create plenty of that radiation "snow" observed on the camera... :)

[AScannerClearly]

@TheReal1inflater Good news to hear that my tube is weak, means I can upgrade easy enough lol. I've got a couple other tubes that I can heat, but when I use a battery to do the heating (lead-acid, 12 V) it barely puts out any more X-rays than my JAN tube, and if I try to use AC for the heating, the electricity runs out through the wiring instead of the tube. I barely get any snow at all right now, unless during long exposures lol. Hope you've had good luck with your pics!

[TheReal1inflater]

@AScannerClearly Hehe, I didn't want to insult you with the "weak tube" thing, but mine overflows the Geiger counter located 50cm away from my setup. xD

There have been some measurements from a similar "6VS-1" setup, done by a man from Czech Republic. He measured 100mR/h in 3 meters and more than 400R/h in few centimeters from it. However, 40kV's the max the 6VS tube can physically withstand. You have the advantage of applying higher voltages, where the x-rays tend to be more "hard".Good luck !

[kolin19Ytube]

Man you have been exposed to X-Ray radiation , at least this instance ! If you are holding the radiation meter in your hand while it goes off , doesn't that mean that your hand has been exposed to the same amount of radiation?

[MrGoogfan]

those are sharp pics! what tube is that and what kv are you running it at?

[AScannerClearly]

@MrGoogfan I took these pics at 50 kV, and using a JAN-CW-3B24 tube in which the filament is in about 40 pieces everywhere inside of the tube in an annoying fashion. I'm not sure how well the tube would work with the filament in tact, might be better or worse, just using what I've got lol. I also have a 3AT2 tube, which is slightly weaker X-radiation emitter but still sufficient for taking photographs like this.

[MrGoogfan]

@AScannerClearly

ill look at that JAN-CW-3B24. It seems to put out copious amounts of in focus rays.

[MrGoogfan]

@MrGoogfan

Also, how is it rigged up? I never do cold cathode because it is terribly unreliable. Chances are that there is a small leak in your tube, which let just the right amount of air in for it to work. Cold cathode emission only works on a very narrow pressure range.

[ldragonheart]

@AScannerClearly how long would it take to cause poising?

[DavidSIlvercloud]

Interesting.

Methinks you should get a dosimeter and a full lead shield and faraday cage.

Steel isn't really the best shield either. Lead, lead and more lead.

Brain cancer is not a nice way to die... nor from radiation induced leukemia. It's just all very dangerous because the radiation is cumulative in your body.

Just my opinion.

[132mikle]

yeah i tried but it only makes a conductor when i turn on the heating,in cold cathode mode it shows blue light but no x rays...what the hell is wrong???

[132mikle]

i tried this with dy802, it didn't work, i putted the fluorescent star on the tube and it didn't show any light... can someone help?.

[AScannerClearly]

Did you heat the cathode? A rectifier tube like a DY802 probably only runs in hot-cathode mode, my tubes are able to work in cold cathode though. I've got a pair of tubes that only produce rays when hooked up to a 12V Lead-Acid battery, but the battery is old/overused so it doesn't put out very much.

[DrFunnelCakes]

Awesome video! What's the song near the end?

[AScannerClearly]

It so far is unnamed, it's a beat Omikron produced in a preliminary form. Actually all 3 song bits I used are that.

[DrFunnelCakes]

Yeah, I checked out his myspace! Pretty good stuff! Awesome videos man!

[sn1pe352]

How is this possible? According to standard models isnt this said to be impossible or am I mistaken?

[kristiaand]

haha your videos and pics are brilliant. although u keep doing this im sure ur gonna end up glowing in the dark ;)

really interesting vids although i think you need to get that setup properly with some nice thick lead shielding and get some good pics going.

[TheCynicalAtheist]

Amazing video.

[kneecaps2000]

Great results and great video. Fantastic.

[Afrotechmods]

Awesome project. How come you used the point and shoot photos? Did it not work with the DSLR? Was the P&S digital or film?

[AScannerClearly]

Only the first 4 photos shown before the main gallery were from the P&S, all of the bright ones at the end were from the DSLR. My P&S is the only one of the cameras that can take video, and that's what I did the recording with.

[20kilovolt]

I have read the datasheet of this tube its an Compactron diode, it is capable to make 25.0 mR/hr(@ 30Kv) of x-ray's

[AScannerClearly]

I googled that, seemed pretty low. I found a datasheet for a the 3AT2 which made no mention of X-ray dosage, but also found one for a 3AT2B which talks much about it and gave that dose of 25 mR/hr that you mentioned. However it mentions on the first page that the B "features built-in X-radiation shielding", so my non-B tube must be putting out much more than that. Thanks for the info though! =)

[AScannerClearly]

Yes, if I use the phosophor screen to measure the rays, it blocks what I'd estimate to be 98%+ of the rays, however my counter will still go off even if wrapped up, so it's hard to tell for sure how effective it truly is. I'll experiment more with that.

[bionerd23]

oh yeah, and you should really try to fixate your hand with something and then x-ray your hand. come on, you know you want to do that! i'd gladly be your test subject to get x-rayed by you, but as you live too far away, you'll need to find somebody else to do it... also, can you maybe find a dead squirrel, rat, or whatever, and x-ray that? :P

[bionerd23]

aw. how can you just throw the little light bulb away like that. :(

apart from that, this is an excellent video, once again! i love how you describe all the details, and the photos / x-rays you made are absolutely marvelous!! =D

[bionerd23]

by the way, i think your camera is save, though. low-energy x-rays (up to a few hundred kV) dont seem to do damage at all, just temporary "flashes" as seen on your video; to back that up, airports would get sued if their x-ray scanners were really capable of damaging mobile phones, cameras, etc.!

[bionerd23]

i'm pretty sure only high-energy x-radiation may possibly damage a camera CCD, though from what i've heard (see my flickr photostream, the discussion), it seems like only NEUTRONS that are a side-product of a linac are really dangerous for the camera CCD, and NOT the primary high-energy photons!!

[m3sca1]

very nice pictures.

its amazing how clear they are.

have you tried different tubes?