pig, depotting, general puttering

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "sundog by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <sundog-at-timeship-dot-net>


 Hi All,

 Well, my shiny new pig arrived over the weekend (Thanks James!) I've been
tearing into the microwaves I've laying in the garage to salvage the MOTS I
need for ballasting and tinkering (A MOT on a timer-controlled relay makes a
*great* spot welder tranny for sheet metal!) There's all sorts of goodies in
there, from the diodes to the cap, fans, etc!  I should've torn into 'em
sooner!
  I considered using MOTS for a tank tranny, but have no matched ones.
Next. I saw the output on these was fairly low (the cap was rated at
1900wvdc).  So I won't bother with them in TC use.  Now, if I can get the
current draw down to something reasonable, I'll use it 's a jacob's ladder
tranny...Good hot flaming arc there.  My question about MOTS is
   There's 3 windings on this thing.  The primary (2 leads, heavy wire), the
secondary (1 lead, thin wire), and a filament winding of maybe 10 turns or
so or wire heavier than the primary.  The filament is a high-current wire
for the magnetron. Used as a ballast, I know to short the MOT for maximum
inductance.  But can I safely leave the filament wire open-circuit?  I don't
fancy the idea of a high-current wire running when there's no need for it.
At 10-15 turns, I can't see it contributing any useful inductance while
shorted.  what I *can* see is a potential source of high-heat while the MOT
is running.  There are shunts in this MOT, but I'm leaving them alone as I
want as much inductance as I can muster.

  On Depotting,
    I have a stack of dead neons.  I take it most coilers do also :)  I'll
try depotting one or two and removing shunts.  I'm looking at the "bake then
soak" method, only a bit different.  I want to lay the NST on it's side on
the hotplate, then tip the whole thing up a bit so the tar/asphalt drains
out.  This leaves the hotplate on the bottom of the NST, but lets the sludge
drain out a side of it without getting it on the burner or simmering it in a
pan.  Also, will a heatgun and puttyknife help to clean up the mostly
de-gunked tranny?  It's worth a try. And the fire extinguisher will be
handy!

  On general puttering,
    I hope this is TC-enough related,
           At the gift-shop in the mall, I saw the plasma globes (very
cool!) and a long glass tube-type apparatus.  It was ~3" in diameter, and
~20" long.  There were 2 electrodes, one in each end.  All down the glass
there were bright and snakelike arcs all over the inside of the glass.  It
didn't respond well to the touch (was more interested in doing it's own
thing).  From the sound it was flyback driven, and I'd guess < 50watt.  The
sparks were very sharply defined and intense, and bright white (no pads or
neon-fill glow).  Maybe it was filled with argon at a semi-low pressure?
Ideas? I'd love to make one for myself (it's not worth $100, and I'd like it
much bigger and higher powered).  Please respond off-list to me at
sundog-at-timeship-dot-net , as this isn't directly related.  Comments,
suggestions, or questions are welcome!

													Caio!
													Shad