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earth ground

Subject: 
        earth ground
  Date: 
        Fri, 11 Apr 1997 21:11:32 -0700
  From: 
        Gary Weaver <gweaver-at-earthlink-dot-net>
    To: 
        tesla-at-pupman-dot-com


I have been wanting to hook up a good ground system for my tesla coil. 
I 
think 10 ground rods around the garage would be nice.  Lowe's has 8'
ground 
rods for $6.99 each.  The local electrical supply store has 8' ground
rods 
for $4.00 each. Hammering these rods in the ground will be hard, take
lots of 
time and cost at least $40.00 plus tax.

I decided to buy a $2.59 brass fitting at the hardware store that allows
me 
to attach the garden hose to a 1/2" steel water pipe.  The water pipe is
6' 
long.  My water pressure is 35 psi.  I turn on the water and push the
1/2" 
pipe into the ground.  Its simple.  I am drilling 1" diameter holes 6'
deep 
into the ground and it takes less than 2 minutes per hole.  The water
flushes 
out the dirt at the end of the pipe and the pipe goes down, down, down. 
The 
water velocity washes up all the dirt to the surface leaving a hole
after the 
pipe is pulled up.

I have several short pieces of 1/2" diameter copper tubing about 2' and
3' 
long.  I soldered a #6 wire to each piece of copper tubing.  I dropped a 
piece of tubing in each hole and push it to the bottom of the hole using
the 
wire.  Then I made a cut in the ground 1/4" wide 3" deep using a thing
called 
a scraper.  The scraper is a thing that looks like a garden hoe except
the 
metal piece on the end of the handle is parallel to the handle not 90
degrees 
to the handle like a hoe.  The scraper can be pushed into the ground
like a 
shovel. The cut in the ground connects all the holes together in a
circle 
around the garage.  I soldered several short pieces of #6 copper wire 
together into one long wire. I put a piece of #6 wire in the ground and 
solder it to each ground wire in the holes.  Everything is hidden under 
ground except for one wire that comes up next to the garage door and
goes 
into the garage to the tesla coil.

I did all this from scrap stuff that I alread had.  The only thing I had
to 
buy was the brass fitting from the hardware store.

It works great.  I can see a big improvement in the Tesla Coil.

Gary Weaver       Experement #7926