X-Ray Machine Construction (project finished)

[Neukyhm]

Yes, that's the web. They don't have phosphorus plates (I think). My plate is a Fujifilm Speed Green I bought on eBay for 6€. I also designed the support for it, you can find it here.

Thanks for the update, do you have also the ebay link?

I bought it very long ago, I was really lucky to find such a screen so cheap. If you are looking for them, I suggest to search for Kodak Lanex screens on eBay.

[TurboTom]

Look for X-Ray film cassettes in the 'bay. These (usually) contain two intensifier screens that you can remove or just use with the aluminium cover as your screen. They are available with different sensitivity, wavelength and "granualarity".

[Treehouseman]

So you're actually putting the camera pointing at the xray source directly (with just the object and screen between)? I would have thought that it wouldn't stop all of the xrays because cassettes use 2 screens, realistically because there's still usable xrays after the first one to activate the second. I've been using a mirror to capture the image from the screen in my setup. I'm using a dental xray head so it's higher power than yours, the unit draws around 400w or so, but I would imagine you'd still have stuff showing up on the sensor, I still get it even with the camera off to the side despite the shielding on the unit.

[Neukyhm]

So you're actually putting the camera pointing at the xray source directly (with just the object and screen between)? I would have thought that it wouldn't stop all of the xrays because cassettes use 2 screens, realistically because there's still usable xrays after the first one to activate the second. I've been using a mirror to capture the image from the screen in my setup. I'm using a dental xray head so it's higher power than yours, the unit draws around 400w or so, but I would imagine you'd still have stuff showing up on the sensor, I still get it even with the camera off to the side despite the shielding on the unit.

Yes, the camera is placed in front of the screen. As far as I know, that's harmless to the camera. And yes, the camera captures a bit of noise but it's almost nothing. Maybe your x-ray source works at higher voltage too (mine works at around 65kV).

[Treehouseman]

Mine runs at 70kv (though it's supposed to be switchable to 60kv) at 7ma. It's a Siemens Heilodent MD, pretty standard dental xray head from what I can tell. I'll see about testing it opposite the sheet here in a bit, I finally got a replacement geiger tube and I'm about to get everything setup to do some leakage measurements, so far I've just been controlling it from another room (like they are used in a dental office). I use a D7000 with the IR remote, so I have to go back to it to check the images and whatnot, if the leakage is low enough it'd be nice to be closer to the unit so I can work through things faster. It's not necessarily the xrays harming the camera that I'm worried about, but it's the noise messing up the image. While post processing can remove most of the blemishes, it's more work the more hotspots there are.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Yes, the camera is placed in front of the screen. As far as I know, that's harmless to the camera. And yes, the camera captures a bit of noise but it's almost nothing. Maybe your x-ray source works at higher voltage too (mine works at around 65kV).

You could use a mirror to avoid the noise and possible damage

[Treehouseman]

Yes, the camera is placed in front of the screen. As far as I know, that's harmless to the camera. And yes, the camera captures a bit of noise but it's almost nothing. Maybe your x-ray source works at higher voltage too (mine works at around 65kV).

You could use a mirror to avoid the noise and possible damage

That's what I've been doing but the problem is how difficult it is to set it up and keep it all in focus and aligned. I have a rednecked stup just along the bathroom counter, it's only assembled when it's in use, having to setup the mirror makes it all more difficult but it's what I've had to put up with. The idealistic goal would of course be a DR panel like you tore down a while back, but they're extremely expensive. Alternatively a dental sensor is an option, really nice dpi but tiny sensor.

https://makezine.com/2015/08/11/homemade-x-ray-inspector-reveals-pcb-secrets/

That is a really nice setup for what it is but that is quite an undertaking to build, as well as dental sensors in full working condition still cost a few hundred.

What I've really been looking for is some leaded glass, a nice leaded transparent window that can be used inline with the camera. The ones I can find are stupid expensive or just lack a price because it's "if you have to ask you can't afford it". I've currently been watching the thrift stores looking for "lead crystal", I believe it should realistically be the same thing, but I'd have to do some diy glass work to turn a cup into a pane. and they'll probably be less leaded but it's something. I already know I have some vacuum tubes that are lead shielded (like HV regulators for flybacks), as well as crt's often have it in some form but they have coatings that can be difficult to work with but it has been suggested to try to sand down a crt and see how it looks.

Right now I have most of my stuff up at https://id10t-tech.com/2018/11/20/x-ray/.

[Neukyhm]

dental sensors in full working condition still cost a few hundred.

You mean a few thousands 

You have some good pictures there, nice definition 

[Treehouseman]

There's definitely more noise on the image but I'm actually really surprised at how little the increase was, looks like there's a lot more quality with the mirror out of the equation, the distortion seems near nothing and I can get the laser on the flash to focus the lens and stop trying to hold things against the sheet to manually focus on! Now to just think of more stuff to xray.

[Neukyhm]

I can get the laser on the flash to focus the lens and stop trying to hold things against the sheet to manually focus on!

That's exactly what I do too, I use the laser grid to autofocus the camera to the surface of the screen.

Idk what type of material your camera is constructed, but think that mounting it in front of the machine will make the x-rays go through all the lenses of the camera. Maybe mounting the camera next to the machine allowed the x-rays to hit the sensor more intensively (because this way the rays won't go through the glass of the lenses).

[Treehouseman]

Got the pictures processed, definitely an increase in noise, but I'd say it's worth it. Knowing it's focused properly takes away a lot of the headache and I don't have to align it anymore. I also realized the other day that the other half of the cassette didn't seem to have the plastic reinforcement ridges I was getting shadows from, so that's also a nice improvement. Now I just have to work out the lens setup to get better quality captures. Though it seems I may be hitting the limit of this ISO 400 screen. It's hard to tell if I'm seeing the grain from the screen or grain from the camera.

https://id10t-tech.com/2018/11/29/xray-11-29-2018/