Will Osman Homemade X-Ray Machine
Many already know that the hospital fees can really add up in the US, even with proper health insurance. Engineer Will Osman found out that hard way when he received a hospital bill for nearly $70,000 USD that covered a 2-night stay, including a set of X-rays. Fortunately, his insurance covered most of the bill, leaving him with $2,500 to pay out of pocket, but he decided to take things into his own hands by building a functional X-ray machine at home.



In all, he spent less than $2500 for a power supply, X-ray vacuum tube, Geiger counters and a roll of sheet metal. Some of these things definitely should not be handled by a non-professional, especially anything that involves radiation. His initial prototype did not image the X-rays very well, so an intensifying screen was added to convert them into visible light. This visible light, or photons, are then captured by a DSLR camera.

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I used 40kV silicone insulated wire and surrounded that with additional silicone tubing, and then just stayed away from the tube during operation. After the initial tests, a giant 2mm lead sheet was placed around the tube,” said Osman.

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