I wanted to have a glass vacuum chamber so I could have a better perspective on my plasma demonstrations, but I was not able to a descent cheap glass dome. Of course I found a way to make my own. I had these glass hole drill bits and left over glass sauce jars and wanted to try it out. I made a bet that since its small and the glass walls are thick, that it would not implode on my.
In order to do this you'll need to keep the glass drill bit under water, I plugged the sink and of course wore the proper PPE. The time to drill the hole was about 2 min. with medium to little pressure. Starting the hole was a challenge, it kept sliding around, so I had the drill at high RPM with very light pressure to get the groves to start.
I glued the brass hose nozzle to the glass jar with 2 part adhesive and when that dried silicon on the outside with the vacuum pump on, to suck in the possible holes missed from the glue.
On the base, or lid, of the jar, I used silicone to create a air tight seal. I didnt want the silicone to stick to the aluminium plate so I just used soap to keep it from sticking.
Here is the first test, I had a tempered glass shield in from of me and my new expensive camera, so sorry for the glare. So far so good, it hasnt imploded yet. It looks like there might be a gas leak, I will have to patch that up after everything dries. It hasnt even been 12 hrs yet, im kinda impatient. Once it gets completely sealed, I should be able to fill the entire jar with plasma.
