Mark II

Background
The Mark I, which was built by James Moore and Adam over two years ago, was the first effort to move our investigations outside of an oven. It, however, suffered from number of problems: it was fickle; large; difficult to cool; requiring constant maintenance; etc. Difficulties in reproducing the phenomena composed the primary obstacles toward real scientific inquiry into their natures. Ian and Adam finally decided to build a "Mark II", a complete redesign, with the following goals: safe, small, convenient, cheap and self-contained.

The initial plans were very successful: few original thoughts did not make it into the final product. The original conception was one of a device taller than wide, and hangable, with the magnetron on top of the shielded area. Adam and Ian soon scrapped this design, because it neglected the necessity of active cooling. Soon, the squat, tunnel design was formulated.

The Mark I setup required:
 * Voltage-doubling circuit, consisting of: a transformer, increasing the voltage some amount; a diode, controlling direction of electron flow; and a capacitor, "storing" charge until full and then releasing it. The net effect is a pulsed DC current at twice the voltage coming out of the transformer.
 * Magnetron
 * Two fans (from microwaves) set up on top of each other and attached with string, in order to cool a large section of both the magnetron and the Faraday cage/glassware setup.
 * Faraday cages of all shapes and sizes.
 * Power strip, allowing a failsafe switch to be a reasonable distance from the apparatus.
 * Fuses, in both the power strip and variac. (On the order of 10 A)
 * Wooden base: plywood
 * Glassware: both boro-silicate and regular glass
 * Paperclips, used to create sparking inside glassware during attempts to create Plasma A.
 * Vacuum pump, used to reduce pressure inside glassware during attempts to create Plasma B.

The Mark II requires:
 * Glassware
 * Vacuum pump

Miscellaneous materials, used irregularly
 * Camera, for documentation, and looking at the flickering phenomenon.
 * Variac
 * Microwave detector
 * Goggles
 * Hardware cloth face plates

Significant design choices

 * Hanging the bottle, instead of resting it on the antenna (which would melt it)
 * Hole in top of exactly the right size with split in the sheet metal
 * The lip of the top, and the tension on the threaded rods hold the shields
 * The top is easy to take off using threaded rods
 * Two concentric shields, for safety
 * Vertical, threaded rods for modularity, ease of deconstruction and sturdiness
 * Extensive use of rivets for attaching parts to the sheet metal body
 * Shielding of capacitor with specially molded plastic case and electrical tape
 * Peelability of sheet metal frame &mdash; easy to reopen
 * Switch &mdash; which is awesome
 * Brass fitting for connexion to vacuum pump: easy to use, provides better seal than plastic pieces and looks friggen' cool
 * Tunnel design for airflow past both transformer and magnetron
 * Microwave fan for cooling, not computer case fan, nor custom-build fan with harddrive motor (which they failed to build)
 * Fan attachment to only one side of the peelable body, so the latter can be opened more easily
 * Gratings on ends, to allow good airflow while blocking harmful radiation, and reducing the risk of electric shock

Stumbling blocks

 * Hanging the bottle
 * Fitting the fan
 * Drilling through metal
 * Attaching capacitor
 * Learning to rivet
 * Attachment of the shields
 * Brass fitting (Rube Goldbergness)

Current state
All one has to do is plug in the apparatus (to power and a pump), turn on the pump and flick a switch on the Mark II. The device is highly portable (except for the vacuum pump) and extremely safe, with two concentric Faraday cages, a well-grounded sheet metal case and grating which prevents accidental encounters with cooling fans. Radiation leakage is very low: on par with a commercial microwave.

Imperfections

 * Bending of metal frame (we can't reopen and close too many times)
 * Threaded rods suck (it's hard to get the nuts going)
 * No direct shielding for antenna, to protect it from dripping Pyrex
 * Transformer is riveted, and therefore difficult to have removed (it won't blow, but it may be the wrong size)
 * Expense, size and heat conductivity of brass fitting
 * Finding an effective way to seal the container in the very long term would remove the need for a vacuum pump, which is large, and not part of the otherwise self-contained apparatus. (The brass fitting does not suffice.)