RE: Need Help With School Project

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Original poster: "Black Moon" <black_moons@xxxxxxxxxxx>

See reply interspaced with your msg:


> Original poster: "M Duce" <mduce@xxxxxxx>
>
> First of all I would like to thank all those that replied to me last time 
> I needed help.
>
> I have now collected the following items:
> NST ­ 12,000 V     30 MA

Sounds good, got a 15,000 myself! fun to make a jacob ladder with

> White PVC Pipe - 3.25 inches
> Enameled Copper Wire ­ 24 AWG
> Soft Copper Tubing - .25 inch diameter
> Aluminum Dryer Vent Duct ­ 3 and 5 inch
> 2 Large Aluminum Pie Pans
> Variac ­ 120 V    8 A ­ if of any use
Sure its some use, lets you set your coil power (in a way..)

> My dad is helping me with any mechanical help, if I need it. I think that 
> now I am at the stage where we must wind the coil onto the PVC pipe for 
> the secondary coil. I am worried about the wire staying on the pipe. 
> Should it have lacquer applied to it? If so, what kind of lacquer or would 
> it cause the coil to arc across the windings.

Polyurthane is good, try and get non water based ones... Not exactly sure 
what those are. Also two part epoxy bartop finish works, but may be hard to 
get in small qualitys. The way I did it, was first apply a few coats onto 
the coil, following sanding directions on the polyurthane bottle (Note, I 
applyed the coats and let them dry for about 1/2 an hour+ *while* the 
coilform was spining, keeps drips from forming) Then I applyed a whole 
bunch as I was winding, at the spot I was about to wind, and the spot I had 
just wound, basicly encaseing the windings. Then a few more coats ontop of 
that once its all wound, Now it looks armored, really nice :)

> I was figuring a variable electric drill to spin it. Does this seem good?

Sure, you just might want another person to hold the drill or at least 
setup a jig to hold it all. Alternately you can grab an old steper motor 
and wire that up to something, I made a nice UC circuit with a incress and 
decress speed button (and reverses the unit too) 'stop' and 'pause' 
buttons. Worked great tho idealy I would of attached pedals to it. tho a 
drill will probley work too if your inventive. Usally kept the spool in my 
lap with a rod though the center to let it spool out. you'll want to keep 
tension on your wire to the coil AT ALL TIMES, one slacking and your coil 
unrolls.

> We are thinking about doing about 900 turns of the wire. Does this sound 
> alright?

Yep, Sounds about right


> Is my 30 MA NST powerful enough for this size of coil? I think I get my 
> hands on a 60 MA NST cheaply if necessary.

Seems about right. You really don't need a high current NST to start with 
anyway, if you find you need more power, you can change the cap and primary 
and put a new NST in without changeing the secondary


> For my spark gap I am not really sure what to do. I am not sure weather to 
> use the rotary or stationary spark gap. Where would I find the plans for a 
> simple one?

SImplest static one is just abunch of 1/2" copper pipe sections mounted 
next to eachother


> I am thinking about using a beer bottle capacitor. My dad has already 
> agreed to empty the bottles of Corona. []

Beer bottles kinda suck, Ask about MMC (multi mini capacitor bank)
Tho ok for a first coil you get alot more power with a MMC, theres also a 
way to make caps from plastic 2l pop bottles, not involveing water or alot 
of bulk.


> Would be grateful for any help or advice,
> Mitchell