Re: eBay x-ray tubes & justified fears (fwd)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2007 19:29:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: G Hunter <dogbrain_39560@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: eBay x-ray tubes & justified fears (fwd)

> "Glow-in-the-Dark" devices now contain no
> radioactive materials, just  
> very slow phosphors that absorb ambient light.

Not 100% true.  Radioactive Tritium is still used in
illuminated watch dials and gun & bow sights.  The
beta particles from the Tritium are very weak are are
not hazardous.  This is pretty lame stuff compared to
mighty Radium--so much so that I'm in danger of
quibbling.

This thread piqued my interest, so I took a browse on
e-bay, where I found a number of vintage gas-discharge
type x-ray tubes, as well as modern rotating anode
Coolidge-type tubes.  Some were "pulls" from working
dental x-ray equipment.  I also found several x-ray
transformers suitable for exciting said tubes.  I
suppose if an HV amateur wants to experiment with
x-rays, there's nothing really to stop him.

I'm not interested in amateur x-ray equipment, but
it's not due to fear.  With proper shielding between
the tube and the operator, and safety lockouts to foil
the curious, generating x-rays should be just as safe
(or just as unsafe!) as coiling, can crushing, or
kilowatt-class amateur radio transmitting.  

Greg 


       
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