van de Graaff generator

[IPOSER9]

is it possible to buy one with a negative charging sphere ? it would need a different roller and belt material just wondering whos got one

[elcapitano1st]

Tetris sound  xD

[VideyoJunkei]

nice! very powerful!!

[ThrowMidgets]

very nice machine did you build it yourself or buy it?

[blindbrick]

I build it myself.

[AleksWielki]

how did you do it?

what materials did you use?

[blindbrick]

I made another video about the construction. ( watch?v=4szKjLsa5lY&feature=ch­annel_page )

In the comment section are more explanations

[AleksWielki]

Dzx :D

[gizmoguyar]

it sounds very quiet did you mount the barings in some special way?

[gizmoguyar]

Great job.

did you ground the bottom roller when you used the small ball?

Thanks

[overunitydotcom]

Great machine !

Have you tried to see, if you can light up constantly an 18 Watts fluorescent bulb ?

[blindbrick]

Yes, it lights up a 30 Watts fluorescent tube.

[Guitargeiger]

i know what i want for next christmas

[TinselKoala]

Very nice! I love the little corona motor.

I'm surprised the wife lets you bring that thing into the living room.

You must be getting nearly half a megavolt out of that thing.

I've been playing with some little VDGs that I made last week--check out my YT channel for the listings.

I'd like to see yours do the oil jet demo.

[blindbrick]

That oil jet is a cool effect. I must try that some time, but sins I discovered that the high voltage was going back in my wall socket, I'm a little afraid to start that hellish machine again.

[TinselKoala]

I'd suggest putting a couple of those little modem protector encapsulated spark gap thingies across the hot and neutral, to ground. It will shunt the VDG's HV off from the mains harmlessly. What are they called? TVSs? Or something like that. Little glass cylinders with leads, almost like a NE-2 but with flat electrodes and not neon-filled.

[IronicallyVague]

Best VDG I've seen, very well done...

Why do people only at see a VDG as a toy?, after trowing a few pie plates,raising someones hair or playing with thier balls they set it aside.

Is there anyone on the Web who experiments & catalogs its effects?

[ChemiMahpour]

I love this toy!

[specialeffectsdude]

what company maks that specific generater and what the model numer and cost

[blindbrick]

I made it myself. look at my other videos, "van de Graaff explained" in particular

[toddao70mm]

Hi BlindBrick,

I Thank You a lot for your very interesting demo and also for your other movie about the way to make a Graaf Genenrator.

Many Thanks,

Oliv.

[mikeandtiff]

Very nice Vdg machine, and demo display! Think ima work on a new one this winter! thanks for shareing!

[Neumus]

the second ball, wha t is that?

[blindbrick]

The second ball is connected to the bottom comb which is connected to the ground. For more details see my other video "van de Graaff explained" the sub titles are a bit fuzzy but its readable.

[oozt]

are the electrons being transported from the second ball (or viceversa) or do they come from the ground (is that possibly?)

[blindbrick]

Yes. In the "triboelectric series" nylon loses its electrons and PVC collect electrons. The bottom roller is nylon and the top roller is PVC, so I guess the electrons are transported from the bottom to the top and to the surface off the big ball. If the top and bottom rollers are switched the electrons will flow from the big ball to the bottom comb to the ground. Leaving the big ball positive charged. The electrons will flow from the small ball (witch is connected to the ground) to the big ball.

[Neumus]

the second ball, wha t is that?

[guitar87tommy]

i put my ipod to this and it ruined it lol

[nick13451]

what are the round balls inside of the jar? is it rolled up aluminum foil?

[blindbrick]

Yes,  it are little balls of polystyrene wrapped in aluminium foil.

[7olusegun]

Though these machines are great for producing Very high static discharges; aint them medevial?

[friedrichsacher]

Thank you for the tip! I will try to do this.

And...Sorry that I mark you as a spam at the last comment-box! I would click "answer" but I click "spam"!

[blindbrick]

your welcome, I hope to see a video of the working generator soon, (also if it doesnt work)

I didn't see that spam marker on this side, never mind.

[friedrichsacher]

Can you give me a tip: Where can I get a Nylon roller from (from wich machine...or something else)???

[blindbrick]

It will not be easy to find a nylon roller ready to put in an generator. I found a little piece at my work, and I have my own lathe so I can turn every shape I want. Don't you know any one who works in a factory, a maintenance engineer or something like that.

We also have a "metal store" in Rotterdam they also sell nylon rods. maybe there is a metal store in your neighborhood?

[friedrichsacher]

No! I don't know someone who works in a factory or someone who is a maintenance engineer. I must look wether we have a "metal store" in our neighborhood but I think we haven't got something like that. I build a VDGG and I use a PVC Tube as upper roller and put some insulating tape at the shaft of the Motor working as lower roller. But it doesn't work. So can I use an other material than Nylon?

[blindbrick]

if You google for "Triboelectric series",You'll find a list of materials ordered by their ability to lose or accept electrons. PVC is at the bottom of the list, so for the other roller you should take a material as high on the list as possible. And the material for the belt should not be higher or lower on the list than the roller materials. I would suggest glass,hard rubber,synthetic rubber or polyester for the roller. and the belt polyethylene (PE),plastic bags are often made of this material

[joesbees]

I went to an ace hardware store and bought a 3/4" female pipe tee. I then cut off two of the ends and used a short length of pipe to screw them together. Nylon roller.

[fnr3addict]

i saw on of these in my physics class. freakin awesome!

[fencebilim]

fencebilim, durgun elektrik, sizde yapabilirisiniz.

[blindbrick]

???? ;-\

[Guthorm]

Great! I love so much electrostatic machine to have named my band "The Wimshurst's Machine"! :-)

[jjboggs43204]

I believe the science you have is wrong. For the most part these machines work by seperating positive charges from negative electrons... and typically the electrons will become grounded somehow... so it is actually taking away electrons, and not adding anything else. And that disbalance between positive and negative causes a bunch of effects as seen here!

[blindbrick]

The electrons not always become grounded, it depends on what materials you use for the rollers and where you place them. Its true I never bothered to find out if this machine takes away or ads electrons to the dome. But that doesn't mater for the simple experiments I do. And its much easier to explain the dome being negatively charged with electrons than the dome being positively charged with the lack of electrons.

[djholmes2001]

man you probably heard this before but those psarks are fantastic and might i say very dangerous. thanx for this.

[blindbrick]

I think the mythbusters are smarter than me, but they very handycapt by the time limits they have on their projects.

[deckoland]

mythbsters made a massive one and the sparks are quater sized of the sparks your showing us good job :)

[Aeryk333]

Wow!

[diymania]

Why make arcs that long in the beginning but then backed off ?

[blindbrick]

I am not sure, my theory is that the dust in the air is the cause. If I stop the generator and wipe the dust off and then start it again, it produces again long sparks. Dust or hairs are attracted to the dome as the dome gets charged. Dust and hairs act as little needles, witch make it easy for the electrons to jump (leak) off the dome to the surrounding air.

[PlasmaStar9]

That's a nice demo and a really killer machine. Notice none of those $500 commercial units crank out sparks like the homemade ones do.

[blindbrick]

Thanks. I learned that i could use zener barriers to prevent the high voltage from going back in to the power cord. But i got to many projects screaming for attention and to little time.

[blindbrick]

It is very hectic at work now, but the coming days i will try to make a video showing more of the construction of my generator.

[98209276]

man thats cool mine is the same hight but i dont think mine will work as well as yours good job.

what speed rufly was it runng at

[blindbrick]

It runs at 2664rpm. the bottom roller is nylon, top roller PVC. The belt is made out of a poly ethylene garbage bag. I used a bag so i could make a belt without messing around with glue. The dome is an old damaged globe covered with aluminium tape.

[98209276]

because the materials are backwards and positive is ground would this still make your hair stand on end. i also think that i double power when changed around like you have done and thanks again please give me some more info if you wish.

[blindbrick]

It doesnt matter if the dome is positive or negative, it's the amount of charge of the same token the that make your that make your hair stand on end. Equal charges repell whether the charge is + or - . Sadly the people with long hair i know are not willing to touch my machine.

[PlasmaStar9]

Great demo. Cool generator too.