Hi,
A tack welder uses a capacitor discharge for a quick weld. A spot welder uses
high current to weld. You can build
both of them yourself, and either should work fine for tube/nixie building.
The usual approach to an easy spot welder
is to remove the high voltage secondary from a microwave oven transformer and
replace it with a few turns of heavy
(8 gauge or so) wire.
That sounds like a good thing to build - although I like the capacitor
version better because it does not include the mains voltage.
For cathodes (and the anode mesh) I am planning to use 1.2mm stainless steel
wire.
Worth a try. I'd probably try nickel or iron, but almost anything should work
to start with.
What property makes nickel or iron the better choice? I am curious.
Alternatively, if you can get some large bore (20mm - 30mm diameter) lead glass
tubing, you should be able to seal
it directly to the stems using a crossfire or even a hand torch and some care.
You'll probably want to anneal it before pumpdown.
Does it have to be lead glass? Is it impossible to use borosilicate?
A glass lathe would be ideal, but might be a bit expensive to start
with. Or you could try building your own (the concept is simple, two
chucks that rotate in synchrony).
It is quite a problem for me, because I am concerned that the motors
won't be synchronous. Better use DC steppers. But are they fluent enough?
May I assume that the stems showed up?
Yep, I picked them up at customs yesterday. :-)
Best regards,
Jens
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