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Re: 5 gallon bucket cap (fwd)





---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 21:34:19 +0000 (GMT)
From: Stan Harle <lazer-at-earth.wazoo-dot-com>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket cap



On Tue, 2 Dec 1997, Tesla List wrote:

> Hi all, Ray here again with some questions.
> I have read some where, and can't remember where, about someone building a
> flat plate cap in a 5 gallon bucket.Any ideas or formulas for making such a
> thing?

	Hi Ray, I was just cleaning out my email for the periodic search
and destroy that my limited time permits, and I think this might have been
me, but it was salt water caps in 5 gal buckets.  They don't work very
well, but they were enough to give me my first sparks.  I have since
switched to a CP cap.

> I'm using 8- 32oz bottles right now and would like to use something more
> compact and easier to move around.

	Maybe it wasn't me, I ended up using 5 of them, on a pallet.

> I have my first coil running (at what I think is great) and getting great
> streamers at 19"inches. I was able to measure the strikes from the torid to
> a door jamb it was hitting.

	Sounds pretty good.  Now that it's working, you get to work on
improving its efficiency.

> I wrote earlier about wiring 2 neons. I was able to get it to work but 1 of
> them is weaker than the other. I have read that it is possible to revive it
> by heating and melting the tar inside. I don't have to take it apart or
> anything but just heat it in the oven?

	That seems to be it, until the tar melts inside.  Seems like you'd
get a much better idea how well melted the stuff was if you at least open
up the top of the tranny.

> Everything runs good except the power falls off about 30 to 40 seconds of
> running time.
> Let it cool down and it runs great again for 30 or 40 seconds, figured this
> had to do with the weak tranny.Stopped using it for now.I don't think I
> would like to take on the task of taking one apart,will start searching for
> new neons after christmas.

	This is almost certainly due to your gaps heating up.  Are you
using any sort of cooling with them?

Stan Harle
Alamogordo, NM, USA