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Re: Fine Tuning a Spark Gap

 Original Poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <mopar-at-uswest-dot-net> 

Hi Bart, All

Well I didnīt do anything spectacular or magic.

I just alternated Cu pipe, Al stand-off, Cu pipe, AL stand-off..........Cu
pipe.

I placed the AL stand-offs lengthwise (like the copper tubes) in between the
Cu pipe pieces. They are a lot smaller (1/4" diameter) than the Cu pipe (22mm
~>3/4" diameter), so I elevated them slightly until they were aprox. in the
middle of the Cu pipes. Thatīs all. 

They where pretty new (slight dull Al look, anodized?), before I put them to
use. After a few minutes of operation they looked as if they had been
sandblasted, hard. But this didnīt decrease performance at all. This "first"
erosion comes on fast. After the first material has "worn off" leaving many
small pits, the erosion decreases, (which I find interesting). After this
first period, the erosion of the Al is no worse than that of the Cu pipes.

Another interesting thing was it doesnīt make a darn difference, where you
place the AL stand-offs. You can (I tried) just "add" them to the end of a
pure Cu pipe gap. The performance is the same as my setup above (alternating
AL and Cu).

Like I said I have no (ZERO) explanation for this. It is simply empirical
data.

Seems to me as if the spark gap has just as many mysteries as the rest of the
TC components, just waiting to be discovered.

 To eliminate some of the variables I plan on testing this type of gap, the
way I described in my email (knurling Cu pipe, using pure AL pipe, etc.) down
below.

Although I havenīt measured it, I would dare to say the Al and the Cu spark
gaps run at about the same temperatures, although I canīt say how long it
takes (if there is a difference) to reach operating temperature, but itīs less
than 2-3 minutes.

The color of the running spark gap is also about the same. I had expected the
pure Al gap to be much brighter (and more whitish) as AL particles are burned
up, but this isnīt so

Total gap spacing was about the same with and w/o the Al, so it canīt be the
total gap width. 

Just from looking at the results I would make a dare-devil guess that the gap
with the AL is quenching harder.

Coiler greets from germany,
Reinhard

 
 Reinhard,
 Could you elaborate more how you constructed the aluminum standoffs in
between
 each copper pipe? I was discussing with someone today an idea of using
 aluminum
 components in a sparkgap. Not to conduct energy, but to utilize aluminum's RF
 suppression characteristic to enhance quenching. I have not thought this out
 completely as it was only a thought passing through the antimatter in my
mind.
 Your post is timely and I wonder if the natural RF suppression of your
 stand-offs
 are aiding your quenching capabilities.
 Bart
 
 Tesla List wrote:
 
 > Original Poster: RWB355-at-aol-dot-com
 >
 > Hi Gary, All
 >
 > I, too, have tried something very similar. The only difference was that I
 used
 > a small six sided aluminum stand-off in between each copper pipe.
 >
 > I tried various gap spacings and different gap spacings within the total
gap
 > (just like you did). Everytime I used the Al stand-offs, I got a better
 spark
 > output on my 3.34" Test-TC.
 >
 > The aluminum cruds up pretty fast, but it didnīt make a difference in the
 > total spark length. Iīm not quite sure why the spark length increases so
 > dramaticly using the AL stand-offs.
 >
 > I want to knurl some copper pipe to see if it is perhaps due to the edges
of
 > the six sided stand-offs, although the sparks seem to jump from one flat
 side
 > to the other and not from the edges.
 >
 > After that I will try aluminum tubing alone to see if it is due to the
 > aluminum. If I run my TC on the Al stand-offs alone, I still get a longer
 > output spark than I did using a pure copper gap (same individual/total
 > spacing)
 >
 > I also donīt quite understand why a multiwidth (i.e. different single
widths
 > within the total gap) makes a difference, compared to a gap with the same
 > total width (but having equal spacing between the gaps), but it does!!
 >
 > Itīs good to see people are trying similar things out there. This helps me
 > from starting to think Iīve gone mad somehow..........or have I ?
 >
 > Coiler greets from germany,
 > Reinhard