Re: Broken wire in secondary.

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: Broken wire in secondary.
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 19:49:58 -0600
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

From: 	Bill Lemieux[SMTP:gomez-at-netherworld-dot-com]
Sent: 	Wednesday, December 03, 1997 5:52 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: Broken wire in secondary.

> From:   Phil Chalk[SMTP:phil-at-eagles-dot-com.au]
> Sent:   Tuesday, November 18, 1997 6:13 AM
> To:     The TESLA List
> Subject:        Broken wire in secondary.
> 
> Matthew Price, et al
> 
> Yes, annoying isn't it !  I broke my wire when winding my second
> secondary, smack bang in the middle as it turned out.
> 
> I carefully stripped about 10mm insulation from both ends, twisted a
> couple of times, soldered, & filed & sanded quite a bit, till smooth &
> not much thicker than the original wire.  The result is a fairly minor
> 'lump' in the wire & _slight_ gaps evident either side of the lump in
> the finished winding.  But basically it looks gorgeous, & under a
> squillion coats of poly lacquer (& as many wet&dry sandings) you can't
> feel it at all, and it has had no effect on performance. (4.5" coil, &
> admittedly at low powers, but I feel confident about it.)

While winding my first high-powered coil (>10kW), I found that my reel
of wire had a factory break in it... the hard way!

What I did:
drilled two tiny holes in the coil form quite close to each other, in
line with the winding direction.  Ran the ends of the wire (with
insulation) through the holes.  Made a small pigtail joint inside the
form, facing toward the center, away from the winding.  Insulated over
the top of that with gobs of pure RTV (silicone) rubber.

I looked for corona with a big sheet of mirrored acrylic placed about
six feet above the secondary, enabling me to see down into the core
while running it at full power.  I never saw so much as a glow or spark,
and never had any problems.  A cut down version of that secondary still
sits around my shop, waiting to be turned into a magnifier "extra" coil.
(it's aspect ratio was far to short/fat for a regular secondary)

-Gomez


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