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Re: Primary Coil & MMC


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Wednesday, June 09, 1999 9:41 PM
Subject: Primary Coil & MMC


>>I would LOVE to make one that looks that nice! What kind of wood is the
>base from too... I couldn't find much in circles, I could get a large
>sheet and use the jigsaw though.. ;)

Home Depot (among others) sells plywood and particle board circles in a
variety of sizes.  Making your own is fairly straightforward if you have a
bandsaw.  What you need to do is make a support to hold the center point of
the circle (I usually use a drywall screw) fixed relative to the the saw
(Typically you rig up something like a sawhorse at the height of the saw
table at the correct distance. Then, you move the wood around the pivot to
cut the line. I would imagine that you could do something similar with a
handheld jig saw. Say you want to make a 2' diameter circle.  Put a screw
through a piece of 1x3  (about 1 foot long) near one end, so that the
swinging end of the wood is the right distance from the center of the circle
so that the jigsaw blade is at the desired radius (i.e. about 1.5" short).
Put the jig saw against the end of the wood and run around the circle, using
the wood as a guide.

>
>My primary just didn't turn out well.. lots of kinks in the pipe.. any
>hints for a beginner?

Fill the pipe with fine sand (or salt, or something of that nature) before
you start. Don't bend the tubing too much or it work hardens and kinks even
easier. If you use sand, you don't even have to dump the sand out. I
wouldn't leave salt in.  Make a notched jig to lay the tubing into as you
bend it (If you buy it coiled already (how it normally comes) then the
bending process is pretty simple).  The jig can be as simple as a bunch of
finishing nails (use big ones) at appropriate intervals on a piece of 3/4"
(or so) plywood.  You probably want at least 8 radial lines of pegs, though,
to keep the curves smooth.  Don't forget to spiral them (for instance, if
you have 8 lines of pegs, and you want 1/2" between turns, each line of pegs
should be 1/16" farther out than the one before it.)

As with all things of this sort, building the right tooling and jigs before
you start makes the finished product a lot nicer. You'll spend much more
time getting ready than actually bending the tubing.


>
>On the MMC, what are those caps you are using?
>
>Travis
>
>
>