Safty cap and first light

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Safty cap and first light
From: Bill Fuller <wfuller-at-home-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 06:38:36 -0600
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

Well, after many months of seaching for parts and construction, I fired
up my coil last night for the first time. No arcs!  I'm not sure where I
got the idea, but I have a safety gap across the primary cap (~0.6"). As
soon as my RQ air blast gap starts to fire(90v on the variac), so does
the safety gap. The RQ gap is set at 0.3".  No amount of tuning fixes
the problem. I did a search in the list archives and it seems unclear if
this safety gap is needed. (I already have a safety gap and RC filter on
the NST's). Any idea's?  Here's the coil spec's:

15KV NST's at 90 mA (plan to use 150mA)
8" dia secondary 32" long 19 ga wire (29mH)
28" x 7" toroid
Flat plate primary cap 0.026 uF
10 deg. primary inductor 12 turns 1/4 tubing, 1/4" spacing (66uH)

I know the cap is on the large side for 90 mA. I don't think this is an
issue though.

Thanks for your help, can't wait to get back to it tomorrow!

Bill Fuller