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Registered Member #514
Joined: Sun Feb 11 2007, 12:27AM
Location: Somewhere in Pirkanmaa, Finland
Posts: 295
Just a (hopefully) quick question:
How much worse is stainless steel compared to aluminium or copper when used as TC toploads?
Regular iron is "bad" (though not that bad, atleast at lower powers (see my Mark II coil - from 700W to 1kW input)). The main reason, atleast as I understand it, is because regular steel is ferromagnetic. But how about stainless?
The reason I'm asking is, that I could get some large pipe corners made of stainless steel for cheap, and I could use them to make a nice looking topload.
I've been thinking about building a high power SSTC (multi kW) ever since I completed Mark II and need a good topload for it, but I don't want to use one of those kilowatts for making tea (as someone once said). It would be nice to make the topload out of such cheap parts, because "real" spun toroids cost too much!
So my question, in short: Is stainless steel much worse than aluminium for this type of application?
Registered Member #477
Joined: Tue Jun 20 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 546
Steel will work. I haven't made a steel toroid, but I have used a stainless steel sphere (or "near sphere") in the past and it worked fine. I bought two 14" stainless steel mixing bowls from Ikea and welded them together. Total spent: < $20 USD, I think. Welding the thin stainless steel was a bit of a pain, but taping the bowls together with aluminum duct tape would probably work fine too. Best part: It's taken a few severe falls off of coils and shelves and doesn't have a single dent. Very physically robust
Banned on 3/17/2009. Registered Member #487
Joined: Sun Jul 09 2006, 01:22AM
Location:
Posts: 617
J. Aaron Holmes wrote ...
Steel will work. I haven't made a steel toroid, but I have used a stainless steel sphere (or "near sphere") in the past and it worked fine. I bought two 14" stainless steel mixing bowls from Ikea and welded them together. Total spent: < $20 USD, I think. Welding the thin stainless steel was a bit of a pain, but taping the bowls together with aluminum duct tape would probably work fine too. Best part: It's taken a few severe falls off of coils and shelves and doesn't have a single dent. Very physically robust
Oh I wanted to buy a welder and do the same thing. How hard is it to weld stainless steel? Is it worth buying a welder for?
Registered Member #477
Joined: Tue Jun 20 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 546
Tom540 wrote ...
Oh I wanted to buy a welder and do the same thing. How hard is it to weld stainless steel? Is it worth buying a welder for?
For stainless, you really want a TIG setup. So probably not! I used a friend's. My own welder is an old AC arc welder, and it would just make a mess of this stuff. But the old AC arc welders (that you can often get for < $50 on places like Craig's List) are great for all kinds of other stuff (including transformer ballasts!), so they're an important part of any HV-nerd's garage.
Registered Member #1125
Joined: Fri Nov 16 2007, 09:13PM
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 62
Yeah I tried the stainless steel weld thing but the welders at my work have only huge units for doing industrial stuff. The guy just went to tack the bowls together and they exploded and warped. That was on his lowest setting :P
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Stainless steel toroids?
