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Re: Vacuum Tube Coil
> Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 23:25:35 -0700
> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
> To: Tesla-list-subscribers-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Vacuum Tube Coil
> Reply-to: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subscriber: brad-at-greenepa-dot-net Wed Feb 12 23:06:42 1997
> Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 16:46:06 -0500
> From: iLLuSioN <brad-at-greenepa-dot-net>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Vacuum Tube Coil
>
> As some of you may remember, I have been working on a vacuum tube coil for a
> while now...
>
> I have a question:
>
> I located a large microwave oven transformer... It is about 10" tall, 8"
> wide and produces a huge 'plasma flame arc' when put across a spark gap...
> It starts arcing at about 1", and then once the arc is established and the
> air is broke down, the length can be increased to around 6" or so...
>
> Does anyone know if this would make an okay transformer for use with vacuum
> tube coil?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Brad
Brad,
It sounds like it does *just fine* as is! : ) Actually if it starts
an arc in an open air gap at a one inch distance, then it is pushing
a very high voltage (20,000 or more) and I do not see how such a transformer
could have been employed in a microwave oven. You may have an excellent
transformer there to power a conventional disruptive T.C. by the
sounds of it. If you have an accurate AC voltmeter, plug your
mystery transformer into the 120 volt line backwards, putting the 120
volts into the transformers secondary. Then measure what comes out
of the transformer's primary. This will be a low safe voltage for
your meter. Divide the applied voltage by the reduced voltage out to
get the transformer step-up ratio. Multiply this by the applied line
voltage and it will tell you with fair accuracy what the actual high
voltage of this transformer is without needing to find a H.V. probe.
A transformer as big as you describe is probably designed to operate
off 230 volt mains however. If it can be plugged into 230 volts with
the secondary disconnected and sit there happily without blowing a
fuse or getting hot fast, then it is probably a 230 volt unit. In
this case multiply the ratio obtained in the 120 volt test by 230
volts instead.
If it is above about 4 kilovolts, then it is unsuited for any small
to medium sized vacuum tube TC. If it IS between roughly 3 and 4 kV it would
probably work well into a pair of 833A tubes by the sounds of it.
Be very careful playing with that transformer, it can kill you!
rwstephens