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Re: sparks
In a message dated 2/8/99 3:05:50 AM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:
> Hi All.
>
> I've been breaking in my new rolled poly caps - thanks for all the
> advice about mineral oil.
>
> My question is this: I've read many previous posts about people getting
> 50"-60" sparks and more from a 6" secondary. The most I've been able to
> obtain is about 36"-40" my specs are below:
>
> 15K/60 ma NST
> 16 turns of 1/4" copper primary spaced 3/8"
> 6.5" X 28" secondary wrapped with 20awg
> 4" X 20" toroid
> 3 rolled poly caps in series = .01 uF
> RQ design circular static gap -6"pvc/1-1/4"copper tubes with muffin fan
>
> Did I blow it using 20awg? Is there something I can do to improve spark
> length? Or is this the best I can expect from 60ma? Any suggestions from
> the more skilled coilers out there is appreciated.
>
> Bob V
>
Bob,
Sounds like a nice project. Very similar in size to mine. The 20 guage wire
should be fine. With your present set up, sparks in the 30" to 40" range
would be about what I would expect. If you want longer sparks, you need to
input more current. Try adding another 60 ma for a total of 15kv 120ma. This
would be a good power supply. Also a much larger toroid. The minumum
capacitor I would use for this project is .025 uf and .05 uf would not be too
large. I am using two toroids, one is 5" x 33" and the other is 5" x 40" and
my cap is .05 uf. You could also rebuild the primary with 3/8" or 1/2" tubing
if you have some extra time and money :>)
Ed Sonderman