900,000 volt Van de Graaff Generator Using Cheap Parts

Step 20 In action

3 min, exposure in a dark room, the other ball is grounded and attached to a stick.

See it and other photos that I have taken here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22560053@N04/
Nickademusss Photo Stream

Most of the best visuals with a Van De Graaff are in a dark room, the light is subtle.

Enjoy email with questions :)

Comments

[Crazy-Inventor]

I have a doubt, if this Van De Graff generator can produce 900,000 volts, then why can't we use it for electric supply for a house? or other purposes?

[makincoolstuff]

and i forgot to say, a house needs like 50 amps so 0.2209 amps would power a 25 watt light bulb, it probably couldnt even power your laptop. And also van der graafs need to charge up to 900000v, its not constant. so powering a house would simply be impractical.

[makincoolstuff]

the amperage is also far too low: 900,000 volts at 27 micro amps will produce 110v at 220.9 milli amps (0.2209 amps) when a house requires far more amps then that. and not to mention the losses when converting 900000v to 110v

[tinstructable]

This generates static electricity, and voltage like this isn't that useful. It will jump through insulation on wires, and the amperage of this is also extremely weak.

[scliffor]

I'm having a really hard time bending the 3/4 " copper tubing, any advice on that?

[nickademuss]

I filled mine with water and froze it, I also used a long piece to give me leverage. You could also pack it with sand. I also used the column to form it, wrap it around it a couple of times and use a moto tool to cut it. Hope that helps!

[scliffor]

Thanks for the info. I did try that (after reading your instructional) but you must be much stronger than me as I hardly made a dent in the copper. I've been using 2 ft pieces, I'm on my third. The last I heated and cooled several times to anneal it, then filled it with sand and still had trouble bending it. And it crimped. I'm trying to construct a wooden tubing bender like I've seen for smaller diameter pipes that I can screw to a wall or something solid and really torque a pipe on. I'm really intrigued about the ice in the pipe. I just can't imagine how you bent it! Thanks for your help and a great instructional!

[nickademuss]

well, I am not that strong, maybe it was thinner pipe, I used the cheapest stuff I could find. You may call around and find a welding shop that has a tubing bender and ask them if they could do it as well. As for freezing it, I used a piece at least three feet long and plugged one end used the pipe to wrap it around, the pipe was clamped to a sturdy table. You could also use a smaller diameter pipe if you can find one, all it needs to do is be round and fold the charge back into the sphere. It will also work with out it, but your charge will concentrate on the bottom rim. The biggest sparks will occur there without the ring. You could also use a large 2 gauge solid copper wire, you wont get any kinks in that, but its very hard to find these days. 4 gauge would work too. My little VDG has a solid copper piece around it, I think its 8 gauge. You may also want to try alluminum, but it will be hard to seal the seam. I think this ring took the longest to perfect on mine as well.

[redjohn]

What can I use to make the rollers stay on the VDG????

[redjohn]

By the way Thank you so much for the awesome guide and tips!!!! :[)!

[nickademuss]

Your welcome, as to your question above, The bottom roller is mounted on a shaft, the hole drilled threw it was such a good fit that I had to use a hammer to get it threw it, the top one is held in place by some plastic parts... see the pics.

[iguanian]

I'm building a VDG using different methods, but this got me thinking about the copper ring.
Since the sphere is such a pain, and the main issue is sharp edges, why not just use concentric rings of pipe to build a toroid/sphere?

A large enough diameter pipe would work for a toroid, but impractical to do that sort of bending at home. Since only the outer surface matters, several rings stacked up would accomplish the same effect.
Or am I missing something?

[nickademuss]

A toroid is a good collector, as long as the top is round and the bottom fold up into its self , these are hart to find and make, when you do find them they are often hand spun aluminum and cost allot more than the sphere used in this project.  Also remember that a perfect sphere is the best collector,  and any raised edges of several stacked tubes would dissipate the charge.