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Re: [TCML] Baffle tally (was Secondary Troubles)
Gary, all,
Although I do install baffles in my big coils that I have
built within the last few years, my homemade baffles
are generally just crudely cut out with a jigsaw and are
certainly not precision fitted to the inside diameter of
the pipe. I then glue them into place with plain 'ole
GE Bathroom and Tile 100% Silicone sealant - yes
it does give off acetic acid odor while curing. But
guess what? Absolutely no internal tracking problems
to date with this method of "baffling" and pushing spark
lengths up to 3x the coil's length! I generally don't use end-
caps parse - as in a fitted PVC cap that is made to fit
on and slide over the ends of the pipe with a bit of snug-
ness. Again, I simply cut out a piece of ~1/2" thick poly
(cutting board) or Plexiglas with the jigsaw and then
run about (4) 1" drywall screws through the side of
the coil form pipe and into the "endcap" cutout to hold
it in place. Certainly far from airtight and I only do this
at the top end of the coil as the bottom end will be sitting
on a wooden base board. O yea, I also often bore a hole
through the center of the baffle discs large enough so that I
can easily slide a 2" diameter gray electrical PVC pipe
throught the holes of each baffle and rest on the wooden
base to support the topload. Like I said, no problems
with this "sloppy" baffle setup to date.
The only time that I ever did experience internal flashover
was with one of those Info Unlimited BTC-1 kits that I
ordered some 20-odd years ago. I cannot remember
whether it was a 3" or a 4" diameter form but it did not
have baffles or endcaps although it was only powered by
a 6/20 OBIT and used a .005 uF CD cap and a single
stationary, non-air cooled SG. Not sure whether the
lack of baffles contributed to this failure or not but
although the secondary coil was approximately 12"
tall, I was never able to get more than about 7" of out-
put spark from it. The topload that came with the kit
appeared to be a cheapo little upturned aluminum fun-
nel that had what looked like a little hollow brass ball
(maybe 1" dia) brazed to the spout end of it. Nearly all
of the breakout eminated from the little "brass ball". I had
a lot more to worry about keeping OBIT(s) from burning
out since the little crude stationary gap was adjustable via
a threaded bolt and I didn't know any better than to
open her up as far as I could to get longer and longer
sparks. This was back in the days before the internet,
(or the TCML) you know ;^)
David Rieben
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yurtle Turtle" <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 6:39 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Baffle tally (was Secondary Troubles)
I built one 3" and two 4" secondaries with no baffles. I had no problems. I
built a 10" and used internal baffles, just in case. No problems there
either.
Adam
--- On Sat, 7/5/08, Lau, Gary <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx> wrote:
From: Lau, Gary <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx>
Subject: [TCML] Baffle tally (was Secondary Troubles)
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Saturday, July 5, 2008, 6:38 PM
Let's take a tally and get some data. I'll
volunteer to tabulate and report the results.
<snip>
For each coiler, please reply and report:
1) Number of secondary coils you have ever built and used
WITH baffles, and how many of these had internal
flashovers.
2) Number of secondary coils you have ever built and used
WITHOUT baffles, and how many of these had internal
flashovers.
3) For all flashovers, please indicate if there was any
identifiable cause.
Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA
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