Looking for a plastic scintillator

[NuclearPhoenix]

I am looking for a plastic scintillator sensitive to gamma rays. Nothing extraordinary, but a maximum size of something like 1 x 1 inches, not bigger. Less than 1 inch would be even more ideal, because I'm trying to build something mobile and as compact as possible.

If anyone knows a good B2C store where you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for a small plastic crystal I'd be very grateful :)

[Sesselmann]

This one will only cost you one arm, but I am sure you may be able to find something a bit cheaper and probably a lot closer.

https://www.gammaspectacular.com/blue/g ... 412-505010

Steven 😉

[NuclearPhoenix]

Steven,

yeah I had a look at what you had in stock, also the XL-BC412-1520.
They're perfectly fine and good value, it's just that they're too large for the use case I have in mind.

Where do handheld devices like the BetterGeiger source their crystals? Must be pretty cheap if they can sell it for around 100$, even with volume discounts.

[iRad]

Matthias - I can provide you 25x25mm or most any size you need. You will need to pm me. My eBay store dies not ship to Austria because of problems with customs there, but I can ship direct, Tom

[NuclearPhoenix]

https://www.gammaspectacular.com/blue/g ... 412-505010

Had a look at that crystal again and actually, it would be perfect if I cut it in half. Do you think it's a good idea to just saw that thing in half by hand? LOL

Matthias - I can provide you 25x25mm or most any size you need. You will need to pm me. My eBay store dies not ship to Austria because of problems with customs there, but I can ship direct, Tom

Hi Tom,

I know your shop, in fact I already had a look at it. Well, more like tried to...
I don't know why, but I cannot see any of the items you have in stock if I click on your profile. It just looks like this:

Screenshot 2023-06-11 at 19-44-02 The Rad Lab eBay Stores.png (88.65 KiB) Viewed 6879 times

I'm sure that I find something if ebay let's me have a look.

[iRad]

Matthias - Unfortunately, since I do not currently ship using eBay to your home country of Austria, eBay will not show you any items available to purchase. If you "change county" to United States (in the "shipping, returns & payments" tab), you should be able to view my listings.

I had to stop shipping to Germany and Austria because customs were confiscating all my shipments. For some reason they feel my products are restricted to ship to your country and eBay would do nothing to help. I am still able to ship directly most items, but not using eBay International Shipping Service.

I do not currently have a 1"x1" cube listed, but could provide that. I might also suggest and can provide a 1X1X1.5 inch size of BC408.

[NuclearPhoenix]

Thanks Tom, you're right that fixed the listings issues. It didn't work through ebay.at or ebay.de even if I changed shipping to US. I had to switch to ebay.com and then change shipping to the US. What a joke.

I'll have a look at your listings. The 1" x 1.5" BC408 you have in stock would be a good fit too, I think. In a perfect world, I'd just get something like a 25 x 25 x 10 mm crystal or comparable, but so far I've not found something like that. I could get one of the Cosmic Watch 50 x 50 x 10 mm crystal and just quarter it, but I really don't have the equipment to do that without risking to destroy it.

Sad to hear that customs is so unpredictable. I don't know what they're after, it's a bit random if and what they want to confiscate. Never had a problem myself in Austria, but I've heard horror stories of people that bought a RadiaCode-101 for example, German customs didn't allow the import because of a missing CE mark, but wouldn't send it back to the manufacturer since there was a battery inside (of course there was) and that's considered too dangerous. So they just destroyed it and sent a bill to the receiver for the waste disposal. But like I said, personally I've never had any problems.

[Sesselmann]

Matthias,

Yes, German and/or French customs can delay things when you get them on a bad day. Although I can't recall if a parcel was ever sent back, I have had several delays because the GS did not have a local language manual. My client kindly helped me with a German translation and we managed to get the goods released. I doubt it has anything to do with either the manual or the CE markings and everything to do with the powers given to the customs officers. These days I just include a somewhat outdated german manual and ask the clients to use the up to date English version.

Steven

[iRad]

Matthias - I can cut most any size you may need with my water-cooled saw. You must be careful when cutting the plastic, or it can be easily damaged. Perhaps we can trade some plastic scintillators for some of your SiPM Driver Boards. Cheers, Tom

[NuclearPhoenix]

Sure thing, Tom. Just sent you a PM.