Re: unpotted NSTs

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

Original poster: "Albert Hassick by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <uncadoc-at-juno-dot-com>

Hi Chris.  The unpotted neons will take quite a beating.  We use our two
15kv/60ma with two shunts removed from each half of the tranny at
present.   My observation is that when you get a new 15/60 tranny is that
it will want to melt itself down in a matter of minutes when used with
the Tesla, but it produces a massive corona atop the secondary coil
before it goes kaput.  Matter of fact, our best output and corona field
was achieved just before the neons bit the dust. Maybe the new neons just
draw a lot of juice before they die and give out with very spectacular
results before they fry.   Once unpotted and troubleshooted and heavily
polyurethaned the neons seem to be indestructible.  Ours run now for over
60 minutes at a clip with no problems, and we have hundreds of hours of
use on them, whereas if they were new in the pot, they would surely fry
within a matter of a five minute sustained run. Maybe the tar potting has
some mineral content that makes a conductive path across the windings?   
     The R.Q. pipe gap is what we use.  Eight 3/4" copper sleeves mounted
into a 4" abs pipe coupling with .020gap(more or less) between each
fitting.  Gives a total of seven gaps and still leaves room to mount at
the base.  Also, we have found that a 4" five blade 'muffin' fan does an
excellent job of cooling the gap.  We force the output of the muffin fan
through the gap in the forced air mode, not as a suction device.   And it
is very quiet, and uses a lot less juice than a vacuum motor.  We have
really found no difference between using a suction/blast gap with a
vacuum cleaner motor versus the forced air of a muffin fan.  But It does
work very well(the muffin fan).  Also, it works best at full output, as
it really helps to 'quench' the gap at full speed. It is mounted right
against the 4" pipe coupling. We tried the blower fan with a resistive
ballast to slow it down, but the lowered speed was very detrimental to
the operation of the spark gap in the R.Q. gap.  	If you only wanta fire
your coil in short blasts, then you may not even need a fan.  As for the
filter circuits, well we built em for the new neons, thinking they would
prolong the life of the new neons.  Ha!  Wishful thinking.  They still
blew out within a five minute continuous run.  However, How many
Teslaphites fire there coils for that long of a duration?  We are into an
extreme mode here!  BUT, we left the filtering devices in place when we
placed the unpotted trannys back into the tank circuit.  Hey, it can't
hurt!  Protection is good!    AL.
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