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Re: microwave caps

Subject: 
        Re: microwave caps
  Date: 
        Fri, 21 Mar 1997 19:55:57 -1200
  From: 
        Ken Smith <ksmith-at-ihug.co.nz>
    To: 
        Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>


>If i use the bottle capacitor (6 pack) i read about here on the web, is
>this good enough ?
>this is my first project so i'll live with second best.


Kenneth (great Name),
                        although I am not really qualified to answer
much on
this list (being such a Tesla newbee and dolt to boot) I will attempt a
short answer :

Bottles are OK - they work (I screwed around with screw tops for ages)
but
there is no substitute for getting yourself organised and getting a
decent
rolled poly cap built.  Look at it this way.  The damn thing (cap) needs
to
sit for a couple of weeks anyway unless you have access to a vacuum
pump- to
let the air get out.  And while you are waiting you can build yourself a
QUICK spark gap unit.  These two things are fundimental to getting a
half
decent coil on the floor and sparking.  The last step is to use
something
like NTESLA.EXE to design your coil.  Use the equipment / wire pipe
diameters that you have as fixtures and work around them.  In the end
you
will have a design that has a fair to reasonable chance of tuning and
working and amazing.  In all it it worth the effort to do it right from
the
getgo.

There is nothing more expensive and frustrating (take it from me) than
having a half hearted go at a Tesla.  It is demanding technology (even
if it
seems primative to uninitiated eyes) and it demands care and attention
to
detail to get results.  The up side is that the results are spectacular
and
inspiring to greater things (or is that a down side from the bank
manager's
point of view <g>).  But if you screw around on the basics you will be
disappointed and out of pocket at best.

In short - don't &*^k around - do it properly.  It seems like a lot of
work,
and it is.  But there is no alternative if you want a working coil.


Let us know how you get on...

Ken(neth)

Ken Smith
Weymouth
Auckland 
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~ksmith
ksmith-at-ihug.co.nz