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Re: [TCML] Spark Length Measurement Techniques



Hey Bart,

No we never tried that, probably because the odds of hitting a small metal object at the extreme edge of the arc envelope are about zero. It is only the intervening nails that direct the arc to that last nail.

Dave
Pleasanton, ca

At 06:03 PM 5/19/2009, you wrote:
Hi Dave,

Yep, I know of this technique. Here's a question for you:
Did you guys run the coil at the same power removing all the "in-between" nails?
Did you hit the last nail in that mode?

I know your post is regarding a "visual spark tuning method", but I'm just curious for reasons regarding some past threads years ago.

Take care,
Bart

Dave Leddon wrote:
Here's a scheme that I use to tune a coil to it's maximum spark length which also yields an accurate measure the length achieved. I tape a nylon weed-wacker line to the toroid and attach the opposite end to a vertical support about 20 feet from the coil. Suspended from the line are about 20 movable wooden dowels each pierced by small nails at the lower end with the nail furthest from the coil being grounded. An arc from a breakout point on the toroid will jump from nail to nail to reach ground and so you just keep increasing the dowel spacing an readjusting the coil until the arc cannot reliable span the distance. Once the coil is tuned to achieve a maximum spark length, all one has to do is measure the span and subtract the total length of the nails.

Here's a picture this setup taken at Greg Leyh's Nevada Lightning Laboratory last summer:
http://www.teslacoiling.com/firingthegap.jpg

Dave
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