Huge Thank You

Project Exodus is nearly a year old and is so close to being complete. However, as you all know none of this would be possible without the kind donations and sponsors from people all around the world. To show are appreciation, here is a full list of everyone and every business that helped fund this project and made it possible for us to complete it.

Jozef Janitor

Mandy Greenaway

Claus Möhler

Randall J. Joslin

Tim Vass-de-Zomba

Karen Topham-Steele

Cliff Topham-Steele

Will Randall

Richard & Valerie

Randall Ray

Jon Quinton

Carolyn Davison

Simon Hill

Peter Reid

James Turnbull

Coleman Rasof

Chas Anders

Paul Leighton

Ian Rainford

Aircraft Value Analysis Company

Violetta Dudek

Phil Gillespie

Ralf Hülsmann

Magnus Svantesson 

LackLuster.org

Texas Micro Circuits

Next: Horrible British Weather

End of Summer Update

I'm back from holiday and so construction can finally resume. Now that the spark gap is done we now have all the pieces necessary to finish the coil which we hope to do in the coming week. Construction of the actual parts is officially finished excluding a few bits here and there so now it was time for assembly. This involves fitting all of the many components of the coil together in the control cabinet and board. Today we worked hard for many hours doing the above. (We also got some new lab coats =)

We started by finishing the wiring going from the control board to the big 15 amp variac. After sorting out a few problems in the control board we tested the variac and it works fine.

We fitted the quenching fans to the spark gap assembly and wired them. We then proceeded to connect the long conduit firmly into the control cabinet where it belongs. The control board is mostly finished now so we made a start on hot gluing all the contacts to prevent short circuits (defiantly needed as the screens blew up the first time). As that wiring was done it was time to start putting the larger items into the control cabinet and wiring them into place. We mounted the hall sensor on to the gap and mounted the whole thing into the cabinet. Wires were then ran from the spark gap motor, hall sensor and fans around the cabinet and were connected to the conduit. Long screws were cut down to size.

Now that the auxiliary circuit is finished we decided to test the whole thing. We shut the cabinet doors and tested the gap and fans at different voltages and thus speeds. Everything went well, the gap span at very high speeds without warping or hitting the electrodes and the tachometer displayed the speed. 

We did encounter one problem. It seems that the tachometer can only register a maximum RPM of around 3200. Were not sure if this is an equipment limitation, problem, or a result of using a different magnet with the hall sensor. The motor can go faster than this though. This is somewhat of a problem as are desired RPM to achieve a BPS of 500 is 3750 RPM. Because of this we will be buying a new tachometer and hall sensor which should arrive this or next week.

ATTENTION SPONSORS/DONATORS - As promised, your names and logos have been put onto the control cabinet. A picture of this will be posted in a few days. Also, your names and logos will be posted in the next post.

Next - Huge Thank You

New Spark Gap

After weeks and weeks of more work, the spark gap mark III is at long last complete. Are previous 2 died on us so here is the final installment. It is much more robust and can handle the max speed without warping. The disk was cut on a CNC laser cutter and the motor is secured to the base in a much stronger fashion now. We also opted to mount it downwards instead of the usual vertical orientation to help support it. Overall the whole assembly is designed way better than the earlier designs and so we are sure this one will be the final version. Here are some pictures:

I go away for a week next week so work will be postponed. After that however its full steam ahead to finish the coil. See you in a few weeks.

Next: End of Summer Update