Re: Initial run

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Initial run
From: Chuck Curran <ccurran-at-execpc-dot-com>
Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 21:42:00 -0600
Subscriber: ccurran-at-execpc-dot-com Mon Jan 6 22:36:53 1997
Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Subscriber: davide-at-mailhost.accesscom-dot-net Sun Jan  5 21:02:23 1997
> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1997 23:19:10 -0600
> From: David Euans <davide-at-mailhost.accesscom-dot-net>
> To: Tesla group <tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com>
> Subject: Initial run
> 
> After more than a year of slowly gathering parts and assembling (and
> tearing down), my son and I fired up our first large coil today.  We got
> 36" sparks with an input of 1.7 KVA.  The coil has a secondary with a
> diameter of 8" and is wound with 1000 turns of 20ga enameled copper
> wire.  Top capacitance is a 16"X4" spun aluminum toroid.  The primary
> has 10 turns of #4 ground wire in a saucer configuration spaced 1/2".
> The capacitor is a 0.05 CP 20KV unit.  Power comes from a 10 KVA 14,400
> v pig with 240 volts input regulated with a Powerstat 1256D.  Current
> limiting is by a Century arc welder and 0.51 ohms of resistance in
> series.  We have a variable speed non-synchronous rotary gap with 12
> tungsten electrodes.  We also have 4 additional stationary gaps which we
> did not use during the initial testing.   Ground is made up of four 8'
> ground rods 8' apart tied together with 6" strips of copper roofing
> material.  Only three were in use for this test (just couldn't wait any
> longer)
> 
> Conditions were not great for outdoor coiling today - winds gusting to
> over 20 mph and humidity very high.  All in all things went very well
> for the initial tests.  We'll work on higher inputs, fiddle with tuning
> and use some of the stationary gaps.  The secondary may be a bit
> over-coupled and we may have to raise it a bit - we are getting a few
> hits from the primary to the secondary.  No problems with interference
> on TVs or with any damage to solid state devices due to the use of 200
> amp line filters on each line in and out and with the use of a "double
> ground" system.
> 
> Thanks to all on the list who have contributed to our education,
> especially Richard Quick who gave many helpful hints and Richard Hull's
> series of tapes.  We'll be continuing to improve on our system's
> performance.  Hope to get some pictures and videos tomorrow.  Will post
> when ready.

David:
	Great to hear of another coil up and running.  Congratulations to you
and your son.  Your coil specs sound very close to my only running coil
right down to the Century welder and 1256D auto-transformer.  You will
be able to improve your spark as the tuning process go on--that's really
the fun part!  I always used a stationary in series with my 12 point
rotary and I've been very lucky as far as electrode wear is concerned. 
As power input is raised you might want to consider that too.  Good luck
with your coil.  Sounds great!

Chuck Curran