Now that I’ve gotten the basics of lathe work (HAH) I’ve machined a pair of low voltage feedthroughs using copper for the conductor, PTFE for the insulator, and aluminum for the KF flange (threads are bad for high vacuum). Hopefully this will work and be a lot less leaky than the last ones.
I found a local eBay seller with a well-used 10″x12″ bell jar, and I had to buy it. I have so much more room for activities now! Also, I’m no longer at risk of the salad bowl shattering. I honestly have no idea how close that thing was to giving out considering it was under at least a thousand pounds of stress when under vacuum.
I purchased a tungsten boat for metal evaporation and used some aluminum wire to try my hand at thermal evaporation in my high vacuum chamber. It works! I got a mirror finish on my first try.
I drilled and tapped the copper feedthrough and connected the variac and transformer to create a variable low voltage, high amperage source inside the chamber. Now I just need to connect the tungsten wire or boat and it should be good to go.
For the thermal evaporator I’m in need of a feedthrough capable of handling at least 200A while being able to hold a vacuum and be electrically insulated from the aluminum base. For starters I’m attempting to make them from a threaded pipe fitting and a 3/8″ copper rod glued in with JB-weld. I have no idea if this is going to work.
I salvaged a giant transformer from a microwave and wound two turns of 4 gauge wire instead of the secondary. This should theoretically give me a couple hundred amps for thermal evaporation in the future.
