Re: Works for me

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Works for me
From: Richard Hull <hullr-at-whitlock-dot-com>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 09:22:03 -0700
Tesla List wrote:
> 
> >From tahoetom-at-best-dot-comWed Aug 14 22:15:05 1996
> Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 17:40:49 -0700
> From: tom renko <tahoetom-at-best-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Works for me
> 
>           Hi Everyone.......
> 
>           I have built my second coil,6"x28",120ma.,w/24"x5" torroid.
>           I kept getting repeated strikes to my safety rail,which is
>           only about 24" away from the edge of the torroid. I made up
>           five little sheet metal "pointy" things, with a little bend
>           at the bottom. They're about .5in x .5in. I taped them down
>           to the very outside of the torroid with alum tape. They are
>           about 5 in. apart. Now, the bolts are going out and down,
>           even going around the strike rail to hit the cement. So, I'm
>           getting longer discharges(4.5ft), and the bolts are going to
>           many different targets. Try it out! Also,I now protect my
>           lead wires to the primary, by routing them through some PVC
>           tubing. The strikes were hitting these wires.Not good.
>           Hope this helps,as now I am a beginner helping others!
> 
>                        Tom Renko  (The Amp Man)

Tom,

We have been advising coilers to do just about what you have found out on 
your own for years on our video tapes.  There is a difference in our 
methods though.

We tend to just barely upset the toroidal field.  we use 2" X 1/4" strips 
of aluminum tape and place them on the very peripheral edge of the toroid 
only on the side we wish the discharges to issue from.  We create an ever 
so gentle "bump" on the side of the toroid such that the field is just 
very mildly concentrated in that area.  (no points ever!)  

The piece of tape is placed long ways- horizontally on the toroid at one 
end and then the center is gently lifted off the surface to form a barely 
recognizable hump, like a bell shape, and the other end is then also 
secured to the toroid.  Thus, we have a small but smooth perturbance 
which just gently upsets the field.  The art is in getting the exact 
height, or bump size, off the toroid to avoid premature breakout and loss 
of energy in the spark.

I have about two of these on the magnifier #11C at present and they work 
just great.  The sparks remain long and hot without the loss of spark 
length and energy attendant with a crude rod takeoff or pointed objects 
on the toroid.  Again, this is a very delicate adjustment and requires a 
bit of "fiddling around to get just right, but it is more than worth the 
effort.

Richard Hull, TCBOR