RE: Grounding Question

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau-at-hp-dot-com> 

 >Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>
 >
 >The ground on your NST is a safety ground.  You should ground it to your
 >120VAC ground.
 >Not RF ground ! ! ! !

 >Remember, the ground on the NST is primarily for safety.  You don't want
 >the chassis to become electrically hot
 >due to internal short.  Ground the NST to your 115VAC ground.

I can't see touching the case of the NST, ever, when the coil is operating, 
as I'd likely be hit with streamers from the top load.  Even without 
streamers, it's just not a good place to put your hands.

But more importantly, consider what happens when the safety gap fires.  The 
center terminal of the safety gap is connected to the NST case, so you're 
suggesting connecting it to AC mains ground.  Should a streamer hit the 
primary and cause the safety to fire, the connection you propose would 
discharge that streamer to your mains ground.  I think it's better to 
channel such events through the RF ground, which is why I advocate 
connecting everything to RF ground.

Gary Lau
MA, USA