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Re: Idea for Capacitor
Subject: Re: Idea for Capacitor
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:57:46 -0400
From: "Thomas McGahee" <tom_mcgahee-at-sigmais-dot-com>
To: "Tesla List" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
----------
> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Idea for Capacitor
> Date: Thursday, June 12, 1997 12:20 AM
>
> Subject: Re: Idea for Capacitor
> Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:32:20 +1200
> From: "Malcolm Watts" <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
> Organization: Wellington Polytechnic, NZ
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>
>
> Hi Fr. McGahee, all,
> I have built plate caps (without the wicking)
> in more-or-less the way you describe. I offer a warning on the use
of
> acrylic for compressing the thing - the acrylic bends like hell,
even
> the thicker stuff. I was incredibly disappointed. The idea is great
> though. Perhaps someone can suggest something a lot more rigid.
> Alternatively, some kind of G-clamp to compress it in the middle,
at
> least temporarily until the cap is dunked in the oil?
>
> Malcolm
Malcolm,
The last time I was at the plastics store they had some stuff
labelled phenolic that was very rigid and might work for the
compression plates. I also saw some thick fiberglass plates that were
good candidates, assuming you have some way to cut and drill the
things :(
My initial experiments were also with acrylics (didn't build a full
working model, just tested the strength of the compression plates),
and I came up with the following method that appears to work quite
well. I was in a hurry to get a series of posts out before I have to
leave for the summer, and so neglected to include this in the
original post:
Because we need a great compression and our friendly acrylics tend to
be somewhat wimpy in this regard, we have several options.
1) Use a different material entirely. There are some heavy duty
materials out there such as some phenolics, fiberglass, etc. They
tend to be harder to work with, but it is at least an option.
2) Back up the insulative plastic with something really strong.
Really strong stuff tends to be HEAVY. Such as a sheet of 1/4 inch
aluminum. If using a conductor, make sure that bolts are kept as far
away from the edges of the actual capacitor as possible. At least far
enough that the oil will provide adequate insulation.
3) The hybrid approach. Cheaper and lighter. Use acrylic but have the
bolts connect to pieces of angle-iron. This uses less metal, and is
probably a lot more viable for the average coiler. ANGLE ALUMINUM
would be good, too, and easier to work. Just make sure it can take
the pressure you will be applying.
Hope this helps
Fr. Tom McGahee