RE: Spark Gaps

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Troy D. Taylor by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <troy-at-ezcoding-dot-com>

Pete,

Thanks!  Safety is always first.

I am not planning and putting the NST or power switch anywhere near the
coil. :)

I had thoughts of surrounding the NST with a "Faraday Cage". :)  Thus, any
strikes would go right to ground.  Is there any reason why this would be a
bad idea?

Thanks,

Troy

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Lawrence [mailto:peterl-at-cloudbase.Eng.Sun-dot-com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 1:44 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com; troy-at-ezcoding-dot-com
Subject: Re: Spark Gaps



Troy,
     I'ld just like to point out that a "small table top" unit powered by
a 15/60 might be a bit more than you are expecting.

I started by following some plans I bought for a unit that had a 6-20 NST
in the chassis underneath the coil. A neat compact "table top" design.

As I progressed up the power curve (7.5-30 NST, then 9-30 NST) the sparks
got tremendously longer.

I've never actually had my NST in the chassis under the coil, always a
safe distance away, and the power switch even farther away. But I can
imagine someone actually building one like in the plans I got, then over-
powering it, and then getting zapped by a long spark while they were
flipping the power switch which was mounted on the chassis as in the plans.


Safety First.


-Pete Lawrence.



	Original poster: "Troy D. Taylor by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <troy-at-ezcoding-dot-com>

	Hello, I am to the point where I need to start thinking about the spark gap
	for my tesla coil.

	Its going to be a "mini" tesla coil - table top size.  I have a 15/60
	Franceformer for the supply.  What is the cheapest/quickest spark gap I
	could use without running the risk for hosing the NST?  Could someone give
	me a reference to spark gaps?

	I noticed most sites just sorta skip over how they made their "simple"
spark
	gap. While they go into great deal on their rotary ones. :)  I also heard
	discussion that a rotary is not ideal for a NST.

	Thanks!

	Troy