Bathroom Readers Institute - Uncle Johns How to Toilet Train Your Cat: And 61 Other Ill-Conceived Projects

As seen in the book
How to Build an X-Ray Machine.

WHAT YOULL NEED

X-ray tube

High-voltage power supply

Electrical tape

Five alligator clips

At least eight feet of 12-gauge AWG wire

Six-inch tabletop fan

Insulating rubber (or Styrofoam)

Velcro strips

Lead sheets

Geiger counter

Lead apron

Wooden boards

THE X-FACTOR

Except when youre turning the power supply on or off, dont stand any closer than eight inches to the power supply, wires, alligator clips, terminalswell, the entire X-ray machine in general. Unplug it and wait a minute before moving or handling anything. That much electricity30,000 voltscan and will jump several inches. You dont want to electrocute or radiate yourself to death because of some dumb project in a dumb book.

DO IT YOURSELF!

Put on your lead apron.

Connect the power supply to the X-ray tube with the 12-gauge wire. Keep everything in place with some of the alligator clips. (Dont plug in or turn anything onyet.)

Double-check to make sure that you connected the X-ray tube correctly, in terms of polarization, so that power flows. This means that the positive terminal on the power supply should be connected to the tip of the tube, and the negative end of the supply to the base pins of the X-ray tube.

Once youve confirmed that everything is properly connected, wrap the alligator clips in electrical tape, and then wrap the X-ray tube in electrical tape. This is a safety measure, but it also ensures that the clips will stay in place and do their job (which is also a safety measure).

Mount and orient the power supply and X-ray tube onto wooden boards. This will make your X-ray device portableso you can take it to a friends house or somethingbut its also a good idea to have your radiation-generating machine be an easily contained one.

Glue Velcro to the machinery and the wood, and stick the Velcro pieces to each other to keep the equipment in place. Feed wires through the board slats as necessary.

Set up the radiation shielding material around the X-ray tube. This is a vital safety precaution. Lead is the easiest option, because its commonly sold in 0.4-inch-thick sheets. To ensure you have a safely operating X-ray machine, place three sheets worth of the lead around the X-ray tube to make for a 1.2-inch-thick safety shield. Make sure to place it between the tube and the power supplythis prevents anyone from being exposed to radiation when reaching to turn the machine on or off.

Keep a small opening in the shielding somewhere for ventilation and cooling. Why? This will prevent overheating and/or radioactive fires, both of which are very bad.

Where exactly you place the shielding depends on how youll use the X-ray machine. If you want to irradiate objects (or living things) at close range, shield the entire tube except for the ventilation hole. If youre more interested in using the machine to take X-ray images, leave an opening in the side of the top so a small but controlled stream of X-rays can escape to make those images possible. Just make sure not to point that hole toward where you might stand or walk by while the machine is running.