Greetings All,
Over the years I've been tolerating my tugsten evaporator design. The main problem I had is short life span of the tungsten. After only a half dozen coatings, the tungsten would erode and break in two at in opportune moments. The other problem I had with my tungstens was the molten aluminum would occasionally "Run" uphill away from the center of the tungsten. The erosion problem was mostly due to a ball of molten aluminum forming at the bottom of the loop. Molten aluminum will dissolve tungsten, and a ball of aluminum concentrated the effect.
Examples of this are seen in the forth image in this image set.
To my surprise, simply winding an 0.08" tungsten coil around the loop of 0.30" main tungsten heater solved all these problems. The molten aluminum wicks out over the length of the thin tungsten coil, and no ball of molten aluminum is formed. Also, the molten aluminum no longer runs away from the hot spot. Wooo Hooo :-)
So, I just thought I'd share my little observation.
--
Take Care,
James Lerch
(My helicopter crash videos and stuff)
(My telescope construction,testing, and coating site)
(My 15KW generator project)
" Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. "
