RE: copper tubing thickness?

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

Original poster: "Dwight Harm by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <dwighth-at-traxsoft-dot-com>

Thanks for all the good info!
FYI, McMaster-Carr has the thin-walled "refrigerator" tubing in both 1/4"
and 3/8" actual OD, both a lot cheaper than their general purpose tubing
(also available in those sizes).  The refrig tubing is .030"-.032" wall,
while the general purpose stuff is .049"-.065".  Catalog page is
http://www.mcmaster-dot-com/cgi/enter.cgi?pagenum=0109

It sounds like the .030" wall, 1/4" OD stuff would be fine; runs $13.27 for
50'.
Dwight.

 > -----Original Message-----
 > From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
 > Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 7:42 PM
 > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 > Subject: Re: copper tubing thickness?
 >
 >
 > Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz
 > <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
 >
 >  > Not at all.  1/4" copper tubing is overkill for even a 12/60 although
most
 >  > use it for high power NSTs (12/60 and 15/60) because its readily
available,
 >  > easy to use, and inexpensive.
 >
 > 1/4" nominal tubing (not refrigerator) is 3/8" od and is easy to work
with..
 > 1/4" OD tubing is quite small, and, having checked this afternoon at the
 > local hardware emporium, is actually more expensive. I think it's because
 > the wall is a lot thicker on the 1/4" OD tubing than on the 3/8" OD (1/4
 > nominal size) pipe. The 1/4 refrig tubing I saw was also a LOT softer than
 > the 1/4 soft copper pipe.
 >
 > Actually, for a smallish coil, bare #8 solid copper wire is another
 > alternative.
<snip>