Wood

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Wood
From: "Barton B. Anderson" <mopar-at-uswest-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 21:40:53 -0700
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

I just wanted to note a problem I had with my spinning
pipe rsg. It is built in a thick wooden box. I had also
attached the fixed electrodes to the side of the box.
Well, a couple nights ago while tuning, the sparks ended
and the spark gap was arcing at one of the fixed
electrodes. It was a continuous buzzing sound arc. I
inspected and found the voltage was finding it's way
through the wood from fixed electrode to electrode even
though they are 3.5 inches apart. Tonight I insulated
the electrodes from the wood and everything is fine
again. I've used wood before and never had a problem
until now. So to all who may be using wood in a similar
way, BEWARE.

Mounting primarys on wooden forms may also run the same
risk and could be a cause of very poor performing coils.
I used wooden runners on my primary, however, the
primary was well coated with polyurethane and the actual
winding does not sit in direct contact with the runners.
This was done via ty-wraps which fasten the primary
coil. Ty-wraps are inserted into holes in runners from
the bottom, then up and around the primary winding and
back down through the same hole. This keeps the primary
off the wooden runners by a little more than the width
of the ty-wrap width (the runner through holes cannot be
too big or the primary winding will come in contact with
the runner when tightened). I don't' think my primary
has arced through my runners, but after this episode
with the rsg, I think I'll do a detailed inspection.

Just wanted to share the incident,
Bart