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Re: New Coil/First Run (15 1/4" dia)

Subject:      Re: New Coil/First Run (15 1/4" dia)
      Date:   Sat, 03 May 1997 19:54:31 -0500
      From:   Chuck Curran <ccurran-at-execpc-dot-com>
        To:   Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
References: 
           1


Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Subject:  Re: New Coil/First Run (15 1/4" dia)
>   Date:   Mon, 28 Apr 1997 15:39:14 -0500
>   From:  "Robert W. Stephens" <rwstephens-at-headwaters-dot-com>
>     To:   Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> 
> >
> > Hello All:
> >         Last night I was finally able to set up and put power to my
> > newest
> > coil.  This is the one with the 15 1/4" dia. secondary with a 56" long
> > winding of #15 wire (motor magnet wire comes in 1/2 size steps and odd
> > numbers too).  The toroid is 10 1/2" x 56" and I attached a breakout
> > bump during assembly.  Well, things went O.K. at first.  I did video
> > tape it in order to slowly examine things later and that will help.  As
> > I ran up the autotransformer I was expecting to hear the spark gap and
> > then with a bit more input voltage achieve breakout on the toroid.  As
> > soon as I heard the gap fire within a split second 6-8 foot sparks shot
> > out of the breakout bump on the toroid.  There was also quite a bit of
> > light coming up from beneath the primary where I house the spark gap,
> > more than I recall from when I ran just the one .025 CP cap.  Oh, I
> > better mention I had my new Plastic Capacitiors .05 and the older .025
> > CP cap in parallel.  The light had me watching since it really reflected
> > off the bottom of the aluminum foil covered toroid.  Well, within about
> > 20 seconds I apparently popped the fuse on the circuit for the rotary
> > motor and it started to wind down with an interesting display of how
> > higher break rates promote better spark! I did use a tach to set the
> > rotary at a break rate of 360 bps for this first run. Today I'll be
> > checking out the details of the short run and then try again.  I watched
> > the video, in some sections frame by frame and I didn't see any clear
> > evidence of any "unplanned" arcing.  The light coming up from the vacuum
> > and rotary gaps did however sort of mask things abit so it's really way
> > too soon to know if the coupling and other items are O.K. or not.  The
> > few sparks that did occur were dramatically more intense with this
> > bigger coil when compared to my 8" dia secondary coil from last year.
> > The final resonant frequency turned out ot be 65 Khz on this new coil,
> > just for information.  I hope that within about one hour today I'll have
> > things ready for another test run, even though rain is predicted, I'll
> > at least get it ready for today or tomorrow!
> >
> > Chuck Curran
> > Cedarburg, WI
> >
> 
> Chuck,
> 
> Congratulations on getting your coil to the complete but
> un-fine-tuned stage.  It is always gratifying to see a coil system go
> well on first light!  Now comes the contemplative tuning work and
> possibly modifications which have the possibility of making your new
> coil
> a real performer.  Go to it Man!  This is probably the most exciting
> stage in a coil project, especially a large one like your's. : )
> 
> Please keep us informed of progress.
> 
> Putting the word in for you for some apparently soon needed extra space
> in
> coiling heaven,
> rwstephens

Robert:
        I'll never turn down any offered prayers, either for me or the
coil
itself!  Thanks for your comments, Sunday night May 4 will be my second
test night, if this darn rain stops.  I've got to do everything outside
in the front driveway.  I'll be running the power up a bit if the rotary
motor doesn't pop another fuse! (It won't!)  I will also video tape this
next step too, like the entire project has been.

Chuck Curran