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Re: Railroad Track Ground
>>From JParisse-at-DDLabs-dot-comSat Jul 6 16:14:58 1996
>Date: Fri, 05 Jul 1996 23:55:39 -0700
>From: "Jeff W. Parisse" <JParisse-at-DDLabs-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Railroad Track Ground
>Guys,
>Anybody have an opinion on the suitabilty of a abandoned, partially
>buried railroad track as a ground?
>We're planning on renting out the coil for a video shoot in downtown Los
>Angeles (the scummy industrial part) and the ground at the site is to
>hard or asphalt covered to bury copper poles and flashing. We are
>thinking of drilling and tapping a 3/8" ground lug on one of the
>nearby railroad tracks which is partially uncovered (the rest is buried
>under the street).
>Any thoughts?... ...Jeff Parisse
Jeff,
This works for me! I wouldn't even bother drilling a hole. Polish a
foot of the top of the rail (if rusted) and lay down copper strap
holding it down with gravitic pressure from a gravity efficient
object like a couple of concrete blocks, or a car parked with its
wheel used for pressure, or hire an 'extra' to stand on
it. If you pick the latter, be sure to advise him that if he leaves
his post during the gig, you won't expect him to come looking to be
paid. Make sure he understands WHY. Ha, ha.
I've even 'wired' the chassis of several nearby cars and trucks
together with heavy wire to act as a ground counterpoise once on an
outdoor Tesla coils show run from a generator. Worked just fine.
I have plans for a BIG transpotable coil system. One idea has been
to mount it on several flatbed railway cars. The tracks are in my
opinion an excellent ground counterpoise which come as a free benefit of such a
scheme. Before I did this however with a huge machine I would check
possible effects on nearby railway track monitoring and control
electronics/electrics. If you are operating on an abandoned
section of track you should have no problems.
Profitable Coiling!, rwstephens