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Re: Figure this out.

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Subscriber: DavidF4797-at-aol-dot-com Wed Jan 22 21:42:14 1997
> Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 14:18:21 -0500 (EST)
> From: DavidF4797-at-aol-dot-com
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Figure this out.
> 
> In a message dated 97-01-22 03:41:24 EST, you write:
> 
> > ANY time we Coilers use a Neon
> >  Transformer we are Gamblin' with the Odds because of that Case Center Tap
> >  Problem. It is the Single Greatest Cause of Grief and Frustration, because
> >  just when you think you've got the Perfect Neon... ZAP! Your Neon's Fried!
> 
> I have come to the conclusion after using many types of transformers from
> many different manufacturers that the problem is not one so much of centertap
> grounding as it is with hot spots and corona that form wihin and between the
> windings of the neon secondary.  The first transformer that I ever used I
> still have and it still works flawlessly (its a 15kv 60ma.)  The reason is
> that early on I removed it from its case and melted the tar off by soaking it
> a week in paint thinner.  I then built a plexigalss case for it which I then
> filled with synthetic refridgeration compressor oil (which has excelent
> dielectric strenght and cooling properties).  I have run a medium sized coil
> with that transformer flat out (3to 4 ft arcs with minimal terminal
> capacitance and a 4"diam by 18" high secondary) continuously for 15 to 20
> minutes at a time for a total of nearly *20 hours* of operation both with and
> without saftey chokes and *without* a saftey gap.
> 
> The reason that I orriginally repotted the transformer in oil is that early
> on (after about an hour total of operation) I began to hear a "buzzing" noise
> eminate from the trans and saw the output begin to deminish (the beginning of
> a short, I suspect).  After repotting in oil, the buzzing went away and the
> outpur returned to its former intensity and has remained so ever since....
>  Excelent emperical evidence about what a good dielecrtic cooling medium can
> do for a stressed coil.
> 
> I have also recently begun work on smaller coils and have found (after
> destroying several of them after just a few minutes of operation) that a
> company called "newtown" here in Illinois produces an open core and coil line
> that uses a specially potted secondary winding that is vacuum imregnated with
> epoxy.  These are the only transformers that I have been able to run
> continuously without breakdown so far (about two hours total).  Because of
> the vacuum impregnation of the secondary, there are no air bubles in the
> epoxy which acts as an excelent insulator and also as a good conductor of
> heet away from the secondary (much as an oil bath would).
> 
> The removal of heet and the improvement of dielecrtic strenght between the
> windings  is, from my point of view, *the* key to reliable neon transformer
> operation in tesla coil service.
> 
> By the way, the newtown open core transformers are vastly superior in
> construction to most of the other transformers that I have used and examined.
>  The fit, finish, and overall design and manufacturing precision is
> exceptional, better than even France transformers which were my previous
> favorite, they are also half the price!!!  The newtown open cores  also
> employ a totally floating secondary (not grounded to the core) for thoes who
> are interested.  Newtown will be the company that I will pruchase all of my
> future open core transformers from and I would recommend them highly.
> 
> Other thoughts welcomed.
> 
> -DavidF-


David

Can you post contact info on Newtown

Thanks

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