Making Rochelle Crystals

[VintagePC]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Dumb idea, before it does much crystalization drop a frozen or chilled mold with one or two openings in to speed the cooling/xtalization process and get the shape.

Tom C.

The problem with that is you get very rapid crystallization, which produces a lot of small, irregularly shaped crystals (think a sugar cube). You want slow crystallization, which gives a lot of time for the incoming molecules to align, and gives you a nice, large crystal - think rock candy type ones or larger).

Originally Posted by bob91343

I think they use a saw to slice the crystal into small sheets, then fasten a contact to each side. Of course, you have to consider lattice orientation. One way to fasten the wires is to make a little (non conducting) clamp to squeeze the contacts against the crystal.

If the crystal has straight, perpendicular cleavage planes, you wouldn't need to saw it - you could just split it in to blocks of the right thickness (provided the crystal is not majorly flawed)