Hemispheres
Here are the spheres used for the Vacuum Chamber construction. They are 10.75" OD and .125" thick. They were provided by Century Metal Spinning in Bensenville, Illinois.
Polishing the Hemispheres
After laying out ans drilling pilot holes for all of the port connections, the hemispheres were mounted on this drill press and polished inside and outside to 240 grit.
Polished Hemisphere
Here is a polished hemisphere. The pilot holes are just visible at the 45 degree positions.
Conflat Flanges
Here are the Conflat Flanges for the ports on the Fusor. The 13.25" Flange is in the middle of the picture with 4.5" and 3.38" on the right side. The 2.75" Flanges and blanks are on the left side of the picture. The dual feed-thru for the outer grid and future filament can be seen in the background as well as the vacuum valve on the upper right.
Bored Hemispheres
Picture shows the Hemispheres after Boring. Holes sizes are 1.510" for the 2.75" CF, 2.010 for the 3.38" CF, and 2.510" for the 4.5" CF.
Hemispheres with Flanges
Here we see the port flanges and tubing installed and welded in place. The equator flanges still need to be installed and welded
Chamber Complete
Here we see the finished chamber after welding and polishing. The interior was polished and inspected to insure there were no cracks or crevices to trap volatiles that would result in outgassing during pump down.