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Re: Toroid Design Features
From: Gomez[SMTP:gomez-at-netherworld-dot-com]
Reply To: gomez-at-netherworld-dot-com
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 1997 12:22 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: Toroid Design Features
Chuck Curran wrote:
> That would be a very attractive price base on the information I have from
> both Ross and Hipotronics.
Oh, I know-their prices are astronomical. That's why we decided to go
ahead and have our own spun- the price of one toroid from Hipotronics or
Ross would pay for the tooling! After that's paid for, it's just aluminum
and labor.
> I just wish you also had forms for one
> around 48" x 12" or even bigger!
I wish we could afford to have other tools made, but the cost is
prohibitive- I've already found that I should probably have made the toroid
for my big machine larger, but it's too late now!
> The esthetics just aren't that
> important to me.
I have found significant corona formation even on toroids made from the
expanded metal ducting. I find that a smooth toroid gets you the more
desirable single brush discharge, even at higher frequencies.
> A local metal spinning house is giving me a price on a large form on Monday.
> He said he needed current costs on Maple wood in order to work out a price.
> This shop originally thought they already had an old form close to what I
> was asking for, but after he looked it had apparently been pitched years
> ago--ouch! His comment was that it would be measured in the 100's not 10's.
Having the spinning form made for an existing baseplate will probably cost
in the neighborhood of $800. If the spinning shop can't supply you with a
basplate, then you'll have to pay another $200-$500 to have one of those
made!
> This is a form that would be for a unit that would be like a Donut without
> the hole.
I'd like to see that trick! It's impossible to spin a toroid without the center
metal. The center "hole" can always be cut out later, but it has to be there
to do the initial spinning. Not only that, but it's a two-step process to spin
a toroid, requiring two different tools.
Boy, if it is in the low 100's there might be another source. I
> can always dream. Since the 56" x 10 1/2" toroid I use cost about $75.00 to
> make, it looks better every day.
I made a 36"x10" toroid for under $30. About $15 for the ducting and
$10 for a perforated pizza pan for the center! I used aluminum-loaded
epoxy to join the toroid and to join the center metal to the donut.
Hmmm, incidentally, the spinning shop we use already has a form for 24"
spheres... those reentrant spheres that people always want for Van de
Graaff generators are just half a toroid on the bottom and half a sphere on
the top...
I wonder if anyone has compared results of using toroids vs. spheres on
Tesla coils?
-Gomez
--
Gomez: certifiable mad scientist, extreme fetishist, fiction dabbler,
pyrophiliac, technomage, goth, faan, lighting designer, dominant
pervert, and juggler of labels... http://www-dot-netherworld-dot-com/~gomez