vansig wrote: cathodes are metal rods, that could be made longer than they need to be, and pushed into the chamber as they wear.
adjustments could be done in micrometers; and may include turning, if needed. so servicing them is a matter of whether
the fine adjustments may be made without taking the reactor offline.
One expansion of this, could be having a machining laser in the chamber to re-profile the rods and as you state an actuator to push the rods in a bit more once this process is complete.
There would probably need to be some form of 3D scanning technology to tell the laser where to cut and how much material to take off.
However the reactions would probably have to stop to perform this action.
