Re: Mini VDG? (fwd)

[Steven Roys <sroys@xxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 22:09:29 -0300
From: Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz <acmq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: High Voltage list <hvlist@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Mini VDG? (fwd)

High Voltage list wrote:

> From: David Speck <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> Hand cranking is certainly possible.  As a kid, I built a small VDG from
> a kit of plastic parts that had about a 4" terminal, and was perhaps 10"
> high overall.  It used a large 1" wide rubber band.  There was a gear
> arrangement inside the handle that stepped up the crank revolutions
> about 1:20.  I could get about 3" sparks off it on a dry day.  It was
> hard to crank without the sparks hitting your knuckle at the top of the
> crank throw.

I have this VDG from a kit (from 30+ years ago):
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/vdgkit.jpg
The belt (rubber band) and the charge collectors are missing.
The crank was difficult to turn, and the sparks produced were small,
but it worked. I still remember the shock that it gave me when I tried
to charge an improvised Leyden jar with it.

To give shocks with a wand-like device, it would be more practical to
make a simple friction machine with a Leyden jar capacitor across its
output. A VDG-type belt machine is a possibility, but a large terminal
is not necessary.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz