A Homebrew X-Ray Machine from North Macedonia

It has been a long time since we saw anything like the X-ray machine described in CL Stong's classic book "The Amateur Scientist."  Here are some other SolderSmoke blog posts about this (and related) stuff:  https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=X-Ray

This one comes to us from the fertile workshop of Mikel Pavleski in North Macedonia.  We have covered his work before.  

This device is built around an old DY-86 tube from an old black and white TV.  Mikel describes a very simple test to determine if these tubes have leaked, or if they still have good vacuum. 

Mikel uses a really scary high voltage power supply.  

I like the FN-RISI radiation detector.  Want one!  

Note that Mikel used a remote turn-on when using this machine.  I hope there are no people in the apartment next door!  He does use a lead shield, but only on three of the four sides.  

The use of dental X-Ray film was really cool.   The development of this film in Mikel's lab reminded me of my developing of 35 mm film in a dark room I had set up in our downstairs bathroom.  I couldn't afford an enlarger.

Mikel warns that you should not try this at home!  Good advice!  

Thanks to Mikel, and to Hack-A-Day for alerting us to this project.