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The Prototype Van de Graaff

A you can see, this design isn't typical, but it is prototypical, as its purpose was to teach myself about Van de Graaffs, and to prove that one could be made cheaply, with common items.

This Gives a pretty good description of how this thing is put together

I built this one during my freshman year of high school. It used a minimal number of parts, my goal to spend as little as possible ;^) It produces a tiny little spark, about 1.25" long at most. Not too bad, considering that the bottom roller is a Bic pen casing and the upper one is a piece of aluminum tubing on a machine bolt. There is far too much friction between the belt and the rollers, and the belt rubs the inside of the PVC tube, so the thing eats belts like a maniac. I really don't use it much at all anymore.

I like the V1 much more...

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email: electrophile@juno.com