document updated 15 years ago, on Dec 26, 2008
Amazing projects I have to build some time:
- 300KV Cockroft Walton multiplier — A great way to kill anything and everything. The author included detailed steps on how to do the home-made diodes and capacitors.
- a real SSTC. They have a lot of things in common with flyback drivers, but presumably there's a reason for the increased complexity of their inductors?
- a coil gun. Interesting because it lets you explore higher-power circuits than are necessarily useful with spark-gap projects. With spark gaps, the only "penis size comparison" is the length of the spark gap, which is somewhat interesting, but not terribly utilitarian. A coil gun, on the other hand, is measured by a) how big of a projectile it can throw, and b) how far (fast) it can throw it. That takes major power, and is... well, not necessarily terribly practical inside a modern academic lab setting, but it's nonetheless more practical than just the length of your spark.