I'm the one on PL who worked with X-rays the most. Drain the really old and chemically nasty oil on that, dispose of it responsively, take the X-ray machine to the dump. Get some money for the tungsten wheel in the X-ray tube, after you remove the vacuum from the tube by placing it in a thick, closed, cardboard box and smacking the seal tube indirectly with a very large hammer while wearing PPE.
If the guy was a radiation physicist, find some one with an alpha capable radiation counter and sweep the house, including inside drawers.
Do not even dream of powering that up. In the grand scale of things, overexposure to X-rays, especially to your testis, small children, babies, and small pets, is a great way to rapidly accelerate death from cancer..
If you feel uncomfortable, the radiological health offices of nearby universities would be whom I would call first. They probably would know the deceased and have an idea of what he might have been doing. In the US, most states have a radiological safety section that loves dealing with unlicensed sources. In fact, if that house was sold to some one with a source in it, they might just void the license of the realtor.
One day my former employer had a class on what to do if I had a CT machine torn apart in the field, when and if a car accident or serious head injury happened. If we needed to set up an emergency scan with a partially calibrated machine on a surgeon's verbal order, the lesson on the potential consequences is something I will never forget. Especially the part about what the dosage could do to a newborn.
Evidently the situation had happened to field engineers in the middle of rural nowhere. And Yes, you will assist the radiologist in running the scan if you are reasonably certain the PSU and Controller is working, per policy.
Don't F,,ck around with unknown X-ray sources, period. Especially ones that may not have a energy shaping filter installed on the beam port. Unfiltered beams usually radiate large amounts of low energy x-ray photons that are not usable for imaging, but will ratchet up your adsorbed dose.
X-rays would suck as a communication medium, the beams from most systems usually diverge like crazy and follow inverse square law. Air scatters and or adsorbs the beam rapidly.
I once was given charge of a laser lab installed in a former radiation facility. There were pancake counters laying around, so I fixed one and searched the lab. When I was satisfied the lab was clear, for a joke I scanned inside my new desk drawer. I'm very glad I did. It was reasonably hot, and setting there long term with the drawer open was not a good idea. A wipe of a special towel while wearing gloves solved the problem.
I prefer smiling X-ray techs, especially compared to that last sad picture, so here:
Steve
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