Homemade-VDG

Hi all, just wondering if anyone else out there has made a VDG (van de graaff generator) check out the pictures of the one I made, and if you have one post it and tell us about it !!

Focus =) Pictures are nice, but increase ambient lighting as much as you can. Modern "Auto" settings will increase focal depth with increased lighting, and perhaps a small flash. Looks like you have sharp daylight coming in from one point. Cameras love difuse lighting =)

hey- it has an auto thing? had no idea. I just point and shoot yer, the daylight would be from the left , im stuck in the garage, you see

I've thought about it but never got round to it.

How did you make yours? What did you use for the belt and rolers?

tried and failed it's to humid here to use one, but someday i'll get around to building one nice work there though!!!!

Too humid?

It's more humid here in rainy England than it is in sunny Australia and we used to use a Van de Graaff generator at school.

I got the idea from Sci-toys (scitoys.com). Its just made from some PVC pipe, a fast motor, rubber bands rollers and a dome. The belt is just a wide and long rubber band I got from the DT workshop at school, the top roller took some experimenting, but I found that I can get about 4cm of spark (1.5in) from a ceramic insulator standof i found in an old cd player circuit.

Hey things, you're in melbourne but you're right, quite often it can get a bit humid here, too. It has just started to drop in humidity lately, so i brought out the VDG. Sparks and pain never cease to amaze me.

EDIT: btw, I was walking past Priceline in Chermside (shops) one day and saw the (was a candle) dome thing, so I knew I had to get it. Cost me $2.50Just if you were wondering.