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Re: Hurray, I destroyed my homemade cap!




From: 	Scott Stephens[SMTP:stephens-at-enteract-dot-com]
Sent: 	Sunday, November 30, 1997 10:57 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: Hurray, I destroyed my homemade cap!

At 10:22 PM 11/27/97 -0600, you wrote:

>You will run into two major problems by not using any oil, first your 
>coronal leakage is going to be high and result in less power available to 
>make sparks with. Secondarily you will suffer edge breakdown as the ozone 
>deteriates the polyethylene. I built a  6 inch cube capacitor out of 1/8 
>inch thick polyethylene sheets 6 x 6 inches square with 4 x 4 inch sheets 
>of aluminum flashing with tabs for the conductor plates. it worked well for 
>about three months and then started to arc over badly at the edges and the 
>polyethylene started to melt and that was the end of it's usefull life.

What if you used sillicon caulk (RTV) to fill in the gap as you assemble? It
may have a high loss tangent, but maybe it will buy a few years of use?