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Re: TC physical construction

Chuck Curran <ccurran-at-execpc-dot-com> On Sun, 17 Mar 1996 12:48:14 -0600,
you wrote:

>Hello Jim:
>
>  I would find a Physical construction discussion of interest too, 
>so here goes.  I am at the point in my coil efforts where I am now 
>mounting the various components.  Any comments from the group would 
>always be helpful and I'm sure many of us will learn from others 
>past experiences.  Here's what I am trying to do.
>
>I made my primary on a plywood sheet that is lifted 18" above a 
>second sheet which is on casters. 
We could have been using the same set of plans! I raised it 30"
because I'm using a home made rolled cap.

[snip]
>I chose to cut four slots 2" wide and 10" 
>long every 90 degrees in order to provide as straight a shot up to 
>the correct point for resonance.  This will make it easy to keep 
>that lead as short as possible. 

I just made my top plate smaller than the frame on 2 sides so that I
have a 2" gap to route the movable tap through.
> I also cut two 2" diameter holes 
>near the base of the secondary. 
1 1.5" hole for the primary lead. 1 0.5" hole for the ground.

[snip]
Yes it did make sense. I'm using a very similar setup.

>I am expecting the strike rail to absorb most of the hits, but I 
>really don't know.
Since I've put on my srike rail, I've gotten to hits to the primary.

>  I have some 1/8" sheet acrylic that I have as a 
>safety idea---if I start getting hits straight through the primary 
>down to the sparkgap and/or the cap, would a sheet of acrylic above 
>the primary help? 
Before I built my rollabout cart (yesterday) my cap projected above
the strike rail and was getting hit. I layed some 0.040" pvc over it
and the strikes stopped.

[snip]

>The last point that I am trying to get a grip on is where to 
>physically locate the chokes and bypass caps in the high voltage 
>leg(using RG-213).  I wonder if placing them right under the coil 
>system or back by the transformer itself is better.  Setting it out 
>by the transformer, in my mind requires an additional enclosure of 
>some sort for safety reasons.  Putting it under the primary in my 
>"structure" keeps it in an area that is already going to be 
>considered very deadly and not approachable until certain steps are 
>completed. I really don't know if one is better than the other, or 
>if a "where ever it will fit" is O.K.
>
I put in 2 "rafters" between the side supports on the top frame. From
them I hung my RFI chokes and resistors. I mounted the RFI toroid and
power resistor on  2" by 12" pieces of acrylic using tyraps and hot
glue and then bolted the acrylic to the rafter. I positioned them
about halfway between the primary cap and the neon. Electrically, it
connects as follows: main cap to RFI choke to damping resistor to
spark gap. I've used the spark gaps as  common points for the feed to
the main cap, the bypass caps, and the neon. Note the mixed tense of
the last sentence, I have 2 identical sets of protection networks, one
on each leg of the neon secondary.

I've found that 1/2" polyethylene tube works well for insulating my
1/4" and 3/8" copper tubing that I'm using for connections.

[snip]
>This represents my longest run of incoherent babble to date--any 
>comments will be apreciated!
>
>Chuck Curran
>
I found it perfectly coherent.

jim