Yet another X-ray : Faxitron MX-20 microfocus system

[@paulaxford6754]

Another awesome video, thanks Mike, your vast knowledge is enviable. I worked on the mechanical side designing industrial X-ray systems for 12 years, long ago in the USA, mostly intended for production inspection of PCB solder joints but we also had steerable beam microfocus systems to carry out automated 3-D tomography on early BGA packages. Our demountable 160 kV X-ray tube had a tungsten-plated beryllium window and that could be replaced, along with the filament, as they did burn out occasionally. Our complete automated systems went for $300k to 1m, certainly not cheap. Regarding interlocks, in general for "cabinet X-ray" systems in the US market, the door where you pass the material to be inspected must have an interlock that "removes a physical portion of the conductor supplying primary power to the HV generator," so that means a blade switch where the blade stays with the door. The (3) series-wired microswitches would not have been strictly compliant despite being entirely adequate for a low-kV laboratory system. All other panels can have a simple interlock switch and warning label, as long as those panels require a "tool" to remove. Generally we considered it undesirable to switch the X-ray system on and off frequently so devised clever means to get material in and out while the X-rays stayed "on," often with an interlocked blade shutter over the beam wired in parallel with the door interlock, or with an "air-lock" type shield door arrangement or just long tunnels, but never easily-compromised means such as leaded curtains. Airport systems have dedicated rules and get away with a lot more risk, presumably because of compromised and rushed legislation at the time. As for the big transformer, be it 1 or 3-ph we always used one as well, partly for the convenient multiple input voltage taps but also to reduce risk of noise from neighboring machinery and establish a local grounded neutral. Cheers ...

[@Pieh0]

Certainly need a followup video of more pics of things you shoved in it. In fact, the x-ray should be a standard feature of all of your video's from now on :P. "And this week, a ton of people sent me more stuff to x-ray!"

[@bigclivedotcom]

Nice toy! Very neat indeed.

[@jaakkolehtimaki8003]

Great video and great machine. I have used one for about five years now at work. Never have tried it with any electronics though but I have scanned some with microCT. Now that is fun!

[@youtubasoarus]

Fantastic video! Thanks for going in detail. Loved the images at the end, specially the Micro SD card. Wow.

[@OneBiOzZ]

This is a stunning find! very useful for all sorts of electronic applications!

[@rubusroo68]

some fantastic images there, great video, thanks.

[@aaronazz]

Great video. So many things to X-ray!

[@mikeissweet]

VERY cool toy! And yet another awesome video!

[@EEVblog]

Wow, awesome score. I've been looking for a bit of kit like this, but sadly nothing ever comes up in Australia. I'd pay serious money for that too.

[@gertnutterts988]

There is some home brew x-ray stuff going on. Maybe something for a future fundamental friday?

[@1710000huh]

then buy it in Europe and set up a delivery

[@thekaiser4333]

Prowl your local hospitals.

[@technobabble_]

I definitely would love to see you X-ray more stuff. Any stuff. Processors, USB sticks, anything you think might be interesting

[@andyb7813]

Excellent video, I am responsible for a few of these in my NHS trust but never had one apart. Thanks

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

Nice video Mike, nice bit o' kit too. The pictures were a treat to see, would like to see more if possible please. I thought the Micro SD card was the most surprising, rather random looking layout and no decernable (couldn't get the spelling right on that one) chip die.

[@johnofe]

Very nice. It would be cool if you made a gallery of pics on your website or something as you experiment. Very good picture quality you have there.

[@cekdark]

Wow the images at the end are awesome. Cool stuff thanks for sharing.

[@kristhetrader5029]

Fantastic score, we'll be up for a treat in the upcoming months!!!! Keep them up mate!

[@spikester]

Congrats, you been wanting one of these detector arrays for a long time. Score!

[@stevenking2980]

Those pics are amazing.

[@Cnctrldotcom]

Nice xray machine and some interesting images there at the end.

[@Coolkeys2009]

Can you show the unit in operation scanning some more items(and show the control software as well). I guess that will be used in many more projects to come awesome item.

[@maratus5891]

Thanks for that Mike can't wait for the next tear down.

[@randacnam7321]

The isolation transformer could be for conducted noise suppression.

[@danwoodward23]

Do an episode where you x ray loads of different things and show us the process

[@TheLightningStalker]

Wow good score. That thing is SWEET!

[@frollard]

That is a FUN piece of kit. I would love one for our hackerspace (even if its entirely unnecessary)

[@movax20h]

I was expecting a motorized x-y platform on the sensor assembly to provide high coverage with small sensor. But that would be time consuming to do a scan. But I guess this system is designed for really small and fine piece scanning, especially with this magnification. The size of the chamber is just for convenience and to accommodate the tube on top, and plenty of extra electronics.

[@littlestworkshop]

You could turn this into a micro CT with very little effort, even the high end skyscan machines just use a stepper motor direct drive for the turn table. Their processing software used to be available to download too although you might need to experiment with image sizes etc so it will take them in.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

yes - this is on the list of things to, along with making an X/Y stage to do larger objects in multiple passes

[@noisytim]

That is insanely cool, Mike !

[@DanFrederiksen]

Nice bit of kit. Can it do tomography? could be handy for reconstructing potted 2 layer boards And if it can vary the kV you can do color images

[@AdamSkubel]

Incredibly cool! I would love to see more stuff xray'd. How about some MEMS IC's? Like an accelerometer/gyro, or a MEMS microphone.

[@WhileTrueCode]

AEC = Automatic Exposure Control. You still set the tube voltage and current, but the exposure will cut off when the receptor has reached a certain dose (calibrated, and likely not configurable except perhaps a density +/- similar to exposure compensation in photography).

[@fig8man]

Love your vids Mike.

[@douro20]

There is a C9312SK-06 MOS x-ray sensor for sale on Ebay right now; it has a 5.7Mpx image resolution and 50x50 micron pixel size, and uses a 12-bit dual-port LVDS interface.

[@douro20]

I'm not going to say because I don't want to unduly promote an item.

[@leadfootlawnmower2762]

that was a pretty cool video. would really love to see more of the pcb and micro chip xrays. and it would be awesome to see an xray of a common house fly if that would be possible.

[@nelumbonucifera7537]

Can someone explain what is going on with that microSD card layout?

[@stevenking2980]

I've seen all your videos twice. Man, the knowledge you have I would guess rivals tesla, Volta, Edison, Westinghouse, all the guys at Los Alamos and all the video guys on YT combined. Man you are a super intelligent man. Thanks for the hard work. Steven NC USA

[@valiza123]

probably a huge ccd sensor with a scintilator screen on top. And also maybe a very fine grid. Never-mind should have watched until the end.

[@yago7094]

Thanks Mike. Great as always.

[@LuisTeixeira]

Hi Mike. Very nice bit of kit. How durable is the semiconductor sensor? Will it have an acceptable lifetime with a harder x-ray source?

[@anonuser57635]

where do you get this stuff?

[@lonniehowell2360]

What I want to know is how do you get a hold of all this cool stuff?!

[@yon2004]

very cool, could you X-ray a CPU and see the die ?

[@hateWinVista]

Agreed!

[@douro20]

I don't know how well it would work, seeing that it's only 35kV, but it's worth a try.

[@douro20]

You could, but you would have to install extra shielding for the higher beam power.

[@youtubasoarus]

Not sure if you'd be able to see much considering the size of things (remember we're dealing with microns there) and the number of layers. It would still be very cool to see for sure. I remember seeing a side image of some electron microscope shots on a broken cpu die which showed the layers of silicon builtup and it's super tiny. Even at whatever magnification it was you really had to zoom in there to see anything. But once you did, HOLY CRAP was it cool.

[@superdau]

***** This is no machine that you can simply modify and expect it to work. Just because the tube is built for 50kV, doesn't mean the rest can handle it. Most likely you would have to make changes in the software (e. g. calibration), the hardware (focusing, calibration again, I guess) and construction (airflow, shielding and stuff like that).

[@unlokia]

Hey, Mike :) Happy New Year, Sir :)

[@davidkierzkowski]

Awesome images!

[@TheConnorGames]

15:14 -- What kind of caps are the big SMD orange ones?

[@robertcalkjr.8325]

Probably tantalum caps.

[@wbeaty]

What, no human head? That skull from your mantelpiece? Also, history of fexitron etc. seems to be: WP Dyke "Thirty nanosecond radiography" book, but I haven't seen a copy yet.

[@HDXFH]

nice bit of kit

[@TheH0nk]

finally a way to proof that the 'lock' switches are total mockups

[@azyfloof]

I wonder what the purpose is of the fine pitched edge connection next to the main edge connections on that micro SD card? Fascinating layout, and the die is quite hidden! [Spoiler alert] It's at the top right corner :D

[@Gameboygenius]

Speaking of which... I asked my dentist whether he would allow me to take a shot of electronics for a nominal fee and he said yes. I guess I would find out when trying it, but I could just as well ask here in case someone knows, are dental xray systems ordinarily high enough voltage to be useful for electronics? He has a film based system rather than a newer electronic sensor system.

[@valiza123]

they are 70kv around 8mA, more than enough to photograph ic's. Mammography units use low kv like this one he's presenting. As a warning, x-ray is known to be used to erase memories, high doses are needed but still.

[@valiza123]

***** I never seen one but I guess it uses multiple Kv values and filters to obtain a complex image is then color coded. But don't think you can see inside IC's clearly.

[@DantalionNl]

Vale Sarbu airport scanners measure density to determine weither something is organic or not and color coded based on those principles. atleast they did around late 90 early 2000 no idea if they still do that.

[@valiza123]

***** where was that question? They can erase most types of PROM's, they dislodge the captive electrons inside the gate [bit].

[@MrRussor]

Vale Sarbu So he can photograph ICs but won't remember doing it? I think it's still worth the fee.

[@JaredReabow]

perhaps they used the medical transformer to sto the 60k device from going pop if the mains went pop

[@90SecondsofAviation]

Mike, would it be possible for You to build 3D X-Ray machine ?

[@Petertronic]

This was amazing. I'd love to see how you control it. Are the x-rays continuous or pulsed?

[@africanelectron751]

Continously it makes it easier for the focusing to track

[@reotrb]

Have you tried putting your feet in there to see if your shoes fit properly?

[@devjock]

Where did i see that microSD imaged picture before? Ah, Kingpin made use of your services it seems ;) That is one hell of a nice system man. Reverse engineer all the things!

[@WayneJohnsonZastil]

Wow expected more money shots haha

[@TheEPROM9]

Nice, Looks like the perfect unit for electronics unless you want to X-Ray an old Pentium, but those are ceramic so the poor mans X-Ray works well. Guessing that means the old one has been or will be torn to pieces.

[@wardogies]

Is the tube stationary or rotating

[@omichron420]

humans have made some pretty neat stuff

[@AlexeiPolkhanov]

Wow! It is one lovely X-ray machine. Pictures from dental X-ray that I have seen is nowhere near as good.

[@tornuptom]

Hmmmmm... that looks very similar to the one at work that i set up only 2-3 months ago..... You haven't been to Stevenage recently have you mike? ;) Its even supported by the same company (QADOS) lol

[@AhmedKhan-sm2no]

I need the software of Halogenic Faxitron MX-20 x-ray system because we have lost the software cd , we need your help for educational institute

[@MrOpenGL]

Can you sell/donate your old x-ray machine? Although I think it will be too heavy to economically ship.

[@Kilohercas]

lucky bastard. I was searching for some-kind xray 2D sensor, but was unable, because it too rare or too expensive, and i have few projects where i can use it. But you are not willing to sell/trade/donate that hamamatu detector i guess , maybe people who you get from this machine have another one ?

[@Megabean]

They might of used the medical grade isolation trans simply for reliability. When you are spending 60000$ US for a unit, cost isn't an object.

[@redtails]

in research and medicine, cost is always an issue

[@jaapweel1]

Wow, this one looks like it's actually useful for reverse engineering PCBs. Maybe not as powerful as that ginormous airport baggage scanner, but much more likely to be actually useful.

[@douro20]

Only $60k? I would had thought more.

[@spikester]

I'm surprised you didn't x-ray the Seek Thermal PCB, but I guess these low powered x-rays would have a harder time penetrating the copper ground plane.

[@ddpxl]

YES, New Toyery !! :D

[@Megabean]

It just wouldn't be Mikeselectricstuff if you didn't have an Xray to irradiate yourself with! lol

[@kjn4685]

Neat toy x-Ray a smart phone

[@eumoria]

no detecting latching could you just run it open cover like that? seems like there would be regulations preventing that.

[@jaa93997]

Please x ray one of them suicidal video bgas , let the myths and urban legends begone!

[@fcouperin]

very very cool

[@drkastenbrot]

In german technology, nothing is unnecessary

[@jjak1990]

cool.

[@bartsthebuilderipa9419]

Hi Mike excellent video, you have not owned her for a week and already taken the unit apart :-) usually get one of these every six weeks or so, if I get a unit with a dead camera I will donate it for you to do a further tear down on the sensor. Any of your chaps want a complete system they can email me and I will give them a shout when next unit arrives, sold last stock one today but will have more in soon. [e-mail]