If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #187
Joined: Thu Feb 16 2006, 02:54PM
Location: Central Ohio
Posts: 140
A coulple things to watch out for if you decide to build a VDG:
Belts that are very elastic will severely limit how fast you can run the belt. They have a terrible tendency to come off the rollers, possibly causing damage to other parts. They also tend to oscillate inside the column, sometimes to the point of slapping which can create a grabbing effect.
As long as you have means of controlling the motor speed, you can avoid these problems by just slowing the motor down. Vacuum cleaner motors run ridiculously fast compared to induction motors.
Registered Member #229
Joined: Tue Feb 21 2006, 07:33PM
Location: Romania
Posts: 506
If you use a collector electric motor, put it in an enclosure. The fine carbon powder from the carbon brushes can affect the dielectric properties of the belt.
Registered Member #98
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:53PM
Location:
Posts: 14
well i'm most likely going to be using some kind of a rubber belt (any suggestions where i can get one for either cheap or free? ) and I WILL have a fan switch or some kind of acceleration control dial on it just in case a vacuum cleaner motor is in fact too powerful.
Registered Member #79
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673
Tips:
The faster the motor the better until you hit 5000 rpm IIRC from a book("Lightning Bolt Generators" - Lindsay publications). I used a belt sander as one pulley, the middle part of a bicycle wheel (pull out all the spokes, best top pulley around I know of). I used the liner out of the wheel for the belt and later part of the innertube, it worked pretty well. If I did it all over again, I'd find something a little less rubbery. Maybe a piece of treadmill? Work hard or your brushes, they were the limiting factor in the one I made. I read somewhere about someone using a "sprayer" to seed the VDG. This was a HV device that sprayed ions onto belt to be picked up at the top. Maybe then it doesn't classify as a VDG? Still neat though.
EDIT=> Another thought about a belt. See if you can get your local firestation to give you some old hose. There's a rubber liner inside that might work well, especially if you kept the canvas stuff on one side. Just a thought. We throw hose away all the time in the FD I am a part of. You can get it in many sizes too.
Registered Member #187
Joined: Thu Feb 16 2006, 02:54PM
Location: Central Ohio
Posts: 140
I can help you to solve some of the problems you will/might encounter if you like. I am "refurbishing" mine right now, but the basement is getting finished in a month or two so I can't get into any of my bigger projects at the moment.
For the belt, it will likely be easier if you make your own. There are two kinds of home-spliced (glued) belts that I am aware of that give excellent results. They both come from the same supplier, which is McMaster.com.
One of them is called "Vinyl-Laminated Nylon Fabric" (the thinnest), and the other is called "Coated Nylon Fabric" (also the thinnest). The nylon mesh backbone is very, very strong in both materials and will allow you to tighten your belt and crank up the speed (but not until it is ready!!!). The polymer coating is needed to keep the combs from neutralizing the charged roller, which is why your rollers cannot be the same material as the belt surface!
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Vandegraff Generator
) and I WILL have a fan switch or some kind of acceleration control dial on it just in case a vacuum cleaner motor is in fact too powerful.
