classic demo, and motor modification

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: classic demo, and motor modification
From: Grayson B Dietrich <electrofire-at-juno-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 08:27:00 -0600
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

Just how dangerous is the stunt of connecting one's self to the
secondary's output, and letting the arcs splay off rods held in the hands
or thimbles on the fingers?
Assuming a reliable system, adequate insulation (mainly distance, I would
guess) from any ground, and no strikes to the primary, then the actual
stunt shouldn't be dangerous, right?
I, and several of my HV-loving friends, would love to try this. Sort of
like becomming a demigod for a few seconds, eh?
Seeing how most people don't seem to be doing anything of this sort,
short of a few advanced coilers in California, then I'm well aware I may
recieve hardy no-go advice from you listies, but it can't hurt to ask.

BTW- I'd be using a future version ( poly caps, maybe sych rotary) of my
current coil, which tosses ~36" sparks from a 12000V 60ma NST. And it
only uses SW caps, with a sloppy RQ-style gap. I hope to achieve an extra
foot on top of that with rolled poly caps and a better gap. I'm currently
attempting to modify an induction  motor to AC-synch operation, which
brings this to my next question.

Is there any easy way of telling if  motor is spinning in synch to the AC
signal? Would viewing it under incadescent or flourescent lights do the
trick? I've machined, more or less acurrately, four flats into the rotor
of a split-phase induction motor, one of 1725 rpm. Will the odd speed
effect the synching effect? The thingg still runs, but I'd like to know
if I've succeeded, so I'll use the motor in place of a universal one for
a rotary SG I'm making. 

BTW2- Will 1/2" HDPE be a sufficient material for a rotary disc? It is
only about 5.5" in diameter. I'm thinking 4 electrodes, spaced evenly,
with removable stationary electrodes totalling either 8 or 12 at max per
side. That could give a great flexibility of break rates, ranging from
the very slow to the very high. It would lend itself to creative
series/parallel connections as well. 

Any comments?
thanks,


With silent lightning in my hands,
-The Electrophile-
Grayson Dietrich
visit my HV page!
www.geocities-dot-com/WestHollywood/Stonewall/2509/index.html

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