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Details

In my haste to get the word out on our first real run I left out a few 
details. I had forgotten I wasn't dealing with "Normal" people, but 
scientists. People for whom the difference between .001uF and .002uFd is 
signifigant. Relax.

I posted 4, that's F O U R , Feet of output to air, and 5 or 6' to a STATUE 
of a little girl, roughly 4'tall and solid copper on a concrete (poured) 
pedestal. I NEVER SAID 6' ARCS TO AIR, though I will in time, and then 8', 
and 10'.....man I need a pig...


There has been a LOT done in a short time. The coil sat for 4 MONTHS with no 
work done, collecting nicks and dust. The Group moved, changed management 
and corporate status and God knows what else. In the past 3 months a LOT has 
been happening, the Coil is one of those.

In the past WEEK we have finished it. Between first and second light alone 
the following happened. Most of it was posted to the list.

The STAND was rebuilt. The first one was too tipsy and I didn't trust the 
Nylon threaded rod to hold it together. We changed to steel.

The SECONDARY was cleaned and coated once again (this makes 6) with 
Polyurethane varnish. It was also trimmed, and then flipped end for end to 
change coupling. we have not gotten the threaded support built yet.

The PRIMARY has had a full 20' added and spliced in. Though as it is we 
didn't need to do that. It tunes much lower than the 15 turns we first 
thought it would.

The TOROID, we were told we would NEVER drive the large toroid. we build a 
smaller one (18X4") and actually drove BOTH to get the big sparks.

The GROUND, in first light we had a terrible ground, in the second (failed 
attempt) we had NONE. In Second Light we had an INCREDIBLE groound to a bare 
copper pipe, brand new, and sunk into the ground. A 2 week old city water 
pipe for a drinking fountain. 1/2" in dia. We fed this with a 6AWG cable, 
and at one point also spliced in a length (apprx 10') of 10AWG solid copper 
wire (to move the coil closer to the statue)

The CONTROL PANEL, the first one was SORELY underdesigned and wasn't feeding 
the NST with enough power. It shorted, fried, died, and smelled really bad 
for a long time. we built a new one that includeed the following.

DPDT EMERGENCY OFF button, non momentary, shuts down EVERYTHING.

0-15A Meter, monitoring mains amperage, btw, this died in Second Light.

0-150VAC Voltage Meter, monitoring power out to NST.

Big Ass Variac, apprk 10A, though well overengineered.
0-1.2 KiloAmp meter. Wired without a transformer it actually reads about 5A, 
but it looks REALLY cool and we saw it at the surplus place and HAD to put 
it into the panel. It pegs while running and gives me a power trip just to 
watch it, though I know it lies :)

A Keyswitch, with 2 keys. One on my necklace, one on my keychain. No 
exceptions.

A lighted button, with a red light (because it's prettey) for power on. 
Momentasry contact, deadman style.

A green button, does nothing, will do something in a couple weeks.

A 5A Variac, for speed control on our ASRG we plan to build.

Mounted in a 6"X18X18 Hoffman Box (NEMA-1) that we had donated.

This control panel was built in 1 hour by ME, wired by ME, and the 5 coats 
of black enamel were painted by ME.

New CAPS, the old ones cracked in transport. We duplicated 2 new bucket 
caps. Both have 12 bottles of Corona, 1" of oil, and are sealed airtight.

New GAP, a multi element static made with 10 pieces of wire bolted to a 1/2" 
piece of UHMW. BLOWN with a "Floor Dryer" blower (Thanks for the idea:)) We 
will build a new one because we left the original in a snowbank at Second 
light.

In the following 24 hours we have done the following.

Rebuild the new control panel, and painted it.
Built another toroid, and painted it with Black Enamel
Build another toroid and glued Argon and Neon filled glass tubes on it, just 
for kicks.
Marked the tuneing points on the primary better.
Bought more ground cable
Ordered Thoriated Tungston welding rods for the SRSG and ASRSG
Ordered a #6 welding shield for the gap
Ordered a huge welding ground clamp
Ordered a TON of other little parts (bolts and stuff)

There will be another run, tomarrow (Fri) at 9PM in Downtown Kalamazoo. Pics 
will be taked and posted on the site Sat or as soon as I get them developed. 
Mon at the latest.

Any questions can be sent to Chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com

All emails will be answered, Flame me and I will also answer, but be ready 
for a fight, I've had enough.
I have had enough of people not reading things throughly, for such a 
perfectionist group I think you would.

I'm not a Professional Coiler, I never will be. I'm a Geek, a science freak, 
and a low budget Techno Weenie. I don't have a $10K coil budget, and this 
isn't a "hobby" for me. It's a passion.
I'm not a professional scientist, I don't work for TTR, Ames, or Dow. I have 
crappy, old cobbled and kludged gear, and finicky test equipment that is 
wwII east german war surplus.
I eyeball measurements, take chances, get burned, shocked, and bloodied on a 
daily basis, but I learn. I make mistakes that set me back months and 
hundreds of dollars, but I learn. I get visits from the police about the 
"firecrackers" (spark Gap) I am setting off, and visits from the Bomb Squad 
when my idiot roomatews find Railroad Torpedoes (a signalling devise, mildly 
explosive and labeld as such) in my Locked Storage shed OUTSIDE! But I 
learn.
I say dumb things and p*** people off, I omit details that to me are obvious 
and to the list are not, I get flamed, called a liar, and a ration of S*** 
from a dozen people, but I learn.

I'm going to keep on screwing up, burning my workbench, sticking up the 
house, and spending nights in the emergency room. I'm gonna occasionally say 
something dumb, or incomplete and get flamed. 

I'm gonna ask what to you are dumb questions, and waste bandwidth, and your 
time. But if I don't, in a couple months when I fire up the 10KVA Pig I 
ccalled on today, I'll be dead in minutes. If you don't have the patience 
for it, bugger off and don't read my posts.

I'm gonna learn a lot more, I'm gonna build my coils, run my Group, and in 
the end do this right.

I'm gonna LEARN, I'm gonna TEACH, and my Group and I are gonna change the 
world. BECAUSE THE GEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH!

Christopher Allen Boden
Founder - President - Coiler
The Geek Group
www.geekgroup-dot-org
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