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Re: Primary support -update
In a message dated 7/22/99 2:52:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:
>
> I ditched wood altogether and went to HDPE and it's working great.
> The HDPE cuts and drills exceptionally well without any splintering
> or flaking. I did the first support out of 8 yesterday and it looks like
> it was done by a machine shop, so HDPE plastic is definately the
> way to go. My primary is 16 turns and I incorporated the strike rail
> as part of the support. Each support is 9 3/8" in length. I drilled 16
> holes about 1/2" down from the top and used a jig-saw to cut off
> the top of the holes, leaving me near perfect slots for the 1/4"
> tubing. The holes are a slightly tight fit and I have to push the tubing
> into each hole so it shouldn't be a problem with the tubing coming
> up and out while winding the rest of the primary.
>
> Based upon the responses I received, email and on both Tesla lists,
> I went to the flat primary and ditched using the 15 degree angle. With
> my 6" secondary, I shouldn't have any coupling problems using the
> flat primary.
>
> The HDPE isn't all the expensive - I ordered 8 pieces of 4" width, 1/2"
> thickness and 12" length for $32.00, and that included UPS delivery
> from an outfit called Professional Plastics, located in Commerce City,
> CO (303-287-7900). I would highly recomend them to anyone.
>
> Don
>
Don,
It sounds like this should work great. Good luck. For those who may be
looking for materials, several folks have said they buy the white 1/2" thick
HDPE cutting boards and cut them up for primary supports. My wife has one
that looks like it would work great. I wouldn't think they cost more than
about $10.00.
Ed Sonderman