In a message dated 98-05-12 20:11:05 EDT, you write:

<<
 Hi Andy,

 What be you making now.  Trying your hand out with some electro forming
 of metals.

 > I need a solid-state switch of some sort capable of handling 200VDC input,
 > switching (in a massively-parallel method if necessary) 1000+ amps, but
 > only for a very brief duty cycle (a few hundred uS in 10S).

 There might be some mechanical device that could do what you want
 with a switch that has a rotating member that shorts two busbars
 for a portion of a revolution and sticks in the off position and tensions
 a spring until it is forsed to turn past the 'on' position at a
 suitable speed to achieve the required on time.

 > Anybody have pointers on what devices I should be looking at?

 Semiconductors seem to be available in a few types from what I see on the
 list.

 Cheers >>

Hi All,
About 15 years ago I worked on a machine that used a high voltage high current
pulse from a large capacitor bank to blow holes in ceramic material with a
shock wave of water.  This was done using a vacuum tube switch.  I don't
remember  the details of the tube (MFG and part number).  It had a control
grid that operated off fairly low voltage.  We could get the tube to condict
massive currents with virtually no on time.

Just a thought.  There are still some very good uses for vacuum tubes.

Dave Duley