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Re: flexible aluminum... ugh



Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>
> 
> Tesla list wrote:
> >
> > Original poster: "Mike Novak" <acmnovak-at-msn-dot-com>
> 
> > I was thinking of using bondo or something to coat a flexible aluminum
> > toroid to make it smooth, then coat with aluminum tape. However, when I
> > apply the tape, it always forms these unsightly wrinkles along the
> > curvature... how do I avoid these?
> 
> Press the strips firmly with help of a smooth and hard object, as a
> small
> glass bottle. Cut thin strips if necessary.
> 
> Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz

	For the first attempt here I tried cutting out gores (computer
designed, no less, with the master printed out and cemented to a piece
of aluminum to stiffen it).  It worked, but the way I do it now is to
start off by wrapping the duct with plain masking tape.  1" seems to
work OK.  Go around the thing several times until the ridges are pretty
well covered up.  Then wrap with thin tape, not trying to put on too
much at once (that's a matter of judgement, which comes from experience,
which in turn comes from bad judgement).  Finish by burnishing with the
bowl of a large soup spoon.  The small glass bottle should work equally
well or perhaps better, because it is singly curved.  

	Duct and tape are pretty cheap, so get some more and play around.  My
nephew teaches high school science at an elite school where he can lead
his students through many projects which he encourages them to design
and build as much by themselves as possible.  A couple of years ago they
were building Tesla coils, and some of the toroids they made from
ducting and aluminum tape were really beautiful, almost like spun ones. 
Kids are ingenious and the girls particularly do elegant work.  By the
way, one of the first things George did for the Tesla projects (which he
actually started almost 10 years ago) was to visit all of the sign shops
in the San Diego area.  He ended up with an essentially unlimited supply
of free transformers for the kids; they picked up at least fifty over
the years.  They got them mostly by dismantling old signs, but in the
beginning they just picked them up from storage sheds.

Ed