Uncle Ben
Well-Known Member
Years ago I made one, CHEAP, by beggin' for parts and having a few laying around the garage. This is a walk down memory lane (this one is about 14 years old.)
Here's mine from an old post:
Yep, this thing's the cat's meow. Just fired the gen. up and it sure is great. Gives off a bluish-purple hue, a little bit of a buzz and a fresh odor like you're at a waterfall. Very nice suttle smell of ozone - I will put it on a timer.
CONSTRUCTION:
I used a free 7500V neon transformer that a sign vendor gave me, got some scrap (but new) alum. window screen, an 8' 18/3 cord with a male plug, some wood screws, a cheap 3 1/2 X 5" piece of glass from a cheapo photo frame, and got after it. Total cost, about $6.
Mounted the transformer using its base mounts to a 4" X 17" X 3/4" plywood board, attached the 18/3 wire cord to the primary side of the transformer including the ground wire for safety.
Cut two screens about 3/8" smaller than the outside dimensions of the glass. I then folded one corner over, punched a small hole with an ice pick through the corner and threaded some wire through the hole so it would be easy to solder - the physical contact between the stripped wire coming from the secondary side of the transformer thru the hole must be good. I soldered the wire leads to the corner of the precut screens using a little flux for prepping, a heavy duty solder iron, and regular flux core electronic solder. Be sure the wire is twisted tightly so that a positive solder connection can be made. After the wires were affixed to the screens, I mounted them to the plate glass, one on each side, using a hot glue gun with about a drop at each corner of the screen. The wire gauge from the secondary side to the screen should be 16 or better.
Mounted the plate glass (using the glue gun) in a groove (which I cut with a table saw) directly in front of the mounted transformer, and connected the screen wire leads to the secondary side of the transformer.
As an aside, had a problem with the glue sticking to the glass initially, so I chemically frosted off the "gloss" by using etching solution found at hobby stores. You should do this or the vibration from the plates will be such that the glue will not hold. Also, found that "Goop" glue with a hot glue gun worked the best after frosting the glass. Silicon cement should also work well.
Good luck,
Uncle Ben
Here's mine from an old post:
Yep, this thing's the cat's meow. Just fired the gen. up and it sure is great. Gives off a bluish-purple hue, a little bit of a buzz and a fresh odor like you're at a waterfall. Very nice suttle smell of ozone - I will put it on a timer.
CONSTRUCTION:
I used a free 7500V neon transformer that a sign vendor gave me, got some scrap (but new) alum. window screen, an 8' 18/3 cord with a male plug, some wood screws, a cheap 3 1/2 X 5" piece of glass from a cheapo photo frame, and got after it. Total cost, about $6.
Mounted the transformer using its base mounts to a 4" X 17" X 3/4" plywood board, attached the 18/3 wire cord to the primary side of the transformer including the ground wire for safety.
Cut two screens about 3/8" smaller than the outside dimensions of the glass. I then folded one corner over, punched a small hole with an ice pick through the corner and threaded some wire through the hole so it would be easy to solder - the physical contact between the stripped wire coming from the secondary side of the transformer thru the hole must be good. I soldered the wire leads to the corner of the precut screens using a little flux for prepping, a heavy duty solder iron, and regular flux core electronic solder. Be sure the wire is twisted tightly so that a positive solder connection can be made. After the wires were affixed to the screens, I mounted them to the plate glass, one on each side, using a hot glue gun with about a drop at each corner of the screen. The wire gauge from the secondary side to the screen should be 16 or better.
Mounted the plate glass (using the glue gun) in a groove (which I cut with a table saw) directly in front of the mounted transformer, and connected the screen wire leads to the secondary side of the transformer.
As an aside, had a problem with the glue sticking to the glass initially, so I chemically frosted off the "gloss" by using etching solution found at hobby stores. You should do this or the vibration from the plates will be such that the glue will not hold. Also, found that "Goop" glue with a hot glue gun worked the best after frosting the glass. Silicon cement should also work well.
Good luck,
Uncle Ben
