[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: cap design, what nobody tells you!!!

Hi,
At last I have just finally made a capacitor that didn't destroy itself!!!!
You people probably know all this but I found out the hard way that
hi-voltage component assembly  requires absolute & total cleanliness.
If you handle the plastic and plates with your bare hands the sweat (a
mixture of body salts,oils and water) will cause corona and rapid failure.
Buy a box of disposable rubber gloves,a roll of paper towels, a litre of
alcohol (or use acetone from the hardware store if you can't buy alcohol)
and a large plastic sheet to use as a work surface.
Set up all your materials cut to shape/size  and put your gloves on.
Wet a fist size pad of paper towel (wet but not dripping) with the acetone
and swab down the worksurface and allow to dry (about 60 seconds.).
Use one handful of paper towel for 2 or three wipes then throw it out then
get a fresh pad.
Do the same to all your capacitor components.
Acetone slowly dissolves pvc (but has no effect on
polyethylene/polypropylene) so wipe pvc parts quickly to avoid the towel
adhering to the plastic.
When the parts are dry assemble them to make your capacitor.
Allow to stand for 2 days until the assembly has no acetone smell.
Then you can seal it,vacuum it & oil fill it.
Apart from directions to wash and clean cap plates prior to assembly I have
not found anything on the Tesla Web Ring about this.
Since I am building my 1st coil there may be a website with this information
or an alternative & better way to do it so I would love any feedback about
this.
Please correct me if I am making any errors here as caps that last 5minutes
are soooo depressing!

Kind Regards to All,

David.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Friday, January 08, 1999 8:34 PM
Subject: cap design


>Original Poster: "mike.shaw" <mike.shaw-at-the-spa-dot-com>
>
>    I am constructing my first coil and am looking at possible cap
>designs.  I want to make a stacked plate cap at .0066 mfd (12 kv 30 ma
>trans. & 4" secondary).  I am wondering if anyone has any advice on what
>dimensions would be optimal (i.e. most compact size, lowest cost, etc.).
>
>Thanks,
>
>Mike
>
>