Hi: My name is Dick Linder and I am a semi-retired electrical engineer located near Boston MA. I am currently the station engineer in my town's public access...
Hi, Dick! It's nice to meet another VDG enthusiast! My name is Harold Pollner, and I'm a fully retired electrical engineer, having retired from Boeing in July...
Hello. I am experimenting on electrostatics. Particularly on charging a human body. I could not afford a commercial electrostatic generator and was told that a...
I have read from a few VDG authorities that 50 sq.in. of belt passing over the rollers per second will generate 1 microamp of short- circuit curent. My belt...
HAL & everyone else: Your calculations of belt area are very interesting. It's the first guideline of this sort I have seen. I have not been able to achieve ...
Hi Hal (once again)& everyone else: We're of the same generation, I am 69. Worked for Raytheon as manager of the metrology lab in the Power Tube Division...
Dick & Others: When designing a self-excited (triboelectric) VDG, the charge- producing lower roller must have a DIELECTRIC surface to interact with the belt...
... charging ... generator ... FITZ: You can get a 400KV VDG kit from Science First for about $350. To build your own, you'll need to own or have access to the...
Hal & list: The info re: Rollers 'n' Belts needs some clarification in my mind anyway. First of all in a self excited VDG I thought the sequence (in my case)...
DICK: In all the self-excited VDG's I've ever seen (and I've owned 2 commercial units, as well as reading of their theory and construction in books and...
DICK: Your logic is not convoluted...you're just hungry for information like me! Of course I will have the metal spinner provide an involute re-entrant hole...
Hal: I guess I lucked out. There's a place in W. Mass, O.W. Lundergren that does metal spinning. Found him on the internet. He has made VDG terminals for...
Hi Dick, Your 30" terminal sounds impressive, with a hemi top and a toroid bottom. Classic! Please post a picture for all to see. I would predict that with a...
... Mine is little. It's older from an Edmund Scientific kit I got in the 80s. I'd like to build a bigger one ... And I may sometime. I'll put some pictures...
... picture? ... the ... misspell ... DERRIK: I got my first VDG from Edmund in 1966. It had a 7" collector and was rated at 200KV. It had a polyethylene...
Hello, Im new here and I have some questions I hope you can take the time to answer. How can a van de graaff machine charge a human body? and how does that...
FITZ: A VDG can charge a human body or any other object as long as the object is ISOLATED from any discharge path to ground or other large conductive body. ...
Hi Fitz: I thought I would throw my 2 cents in also. I just finished a tour with my VDG visiting the schools in my town as part of a static electricity show. ...
Way to go!! Will be interested in some feedback on how well it works. Looks like a real lightning storm is soon to happen. What are you using for a terminal? ...
Hello Dick & others: I'm not using any terminal at all on Prometheus. I probably won't have one for a couple months, when I can afford the metal spinner's...
Harold, I was looking at your pictures. I am wondering, how much did that lathe cost? Where do you even get such a thing? I don't recall seeing anything like...
Hi Hal & everyone else: I will get a picture of the 30" terminal posted as soon as I take one. The terminal arrived but a week or so ago and we are building a ...
Derrik: Sears hasn't offered metal lathes for around 40 years. If you run across a 1950's or 1960's Craftsman catalog, you might see one. I got mine from an ...
DICK: I realize that ball bearings are noisy because they have other things rolling within them besides the shaft. The noise only becomes annoying at RPM's ...
Thanks for answering my previous query. Its a big help. VDG machines are know to generate voltages of up to millions of volts. Would it be possible to generate...
Hello everyone My name is Jerry, I am a 34 year old computer technician, and am a new guy here. I have been fascinated with high voltage since I was 13, much...
... new guy here. I have been fascinated with high voltage since I was 13, much to my parent's dismay. I have built several of my own tesla coils ranging...
Welcome Jerry and "fpnestimo" in the Philipines. Sure is a small world. Hope this group will be of some assistance. It is encouraging to see how it is growing....
(New guy alert) Hello everyone, I started building a VDG last week. It's about 4 feet tall with a 10in collector. I got started on this project after building...
