Re: Nathan's Problems Solved.

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Nathan's Problems Solved.
From: Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000 18:56:14 -0700
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Cc: "Nathan Ball" <nateburg-at-hotmail-dot-com>
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme
In-Reply-To: <20000106070207.19192.qmail-at-hotmail-dot-com>

At 11:02 PM 01/05/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello, all
>
>Thanks very much to Terry Fritz, we think we have pinpointed the problem in 
>my coil.
>
>*I was using BLACK POLYETHYLENE SHEETING in my capacitors!*
>(sheepish laugh...) heh heh heh...  Ahem.
>               /. .\
>               -___-
>
>NOBODY ELSE USE THAT EVIL MATERIAL!! that is, if you were as uninformed as 
>myself when I built them.  Apparently they use carbon in it to protect 
>against outdoor UV rays.  So I really just was running my coil with 
>extremely high dissipation "capacitors" or probably more accurately, 
>expensive, time consuming resistors.  Shoot.
>
>So now I will move on into the 21st century of coiling with an MMC. And 
>we'll see how that works.
>
>I will update you all soon.
>
>thank you all very much for your help and support!
>
>It is really great to be in contact with such fine, knowledgable people as 
>yourselves.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Nathan Ball

Hi All and Nathan,

I just whipped your new EMMC together.  Pictures are at:

http://users.better-dot-org/tfritz/nathan/

It took longer to make and post the pictures than it did to build the
thing.  (Terry is much better at building MMCs than taking pictures too ;-)))

I will see if the post office can get it to you on Saturday and we will see
if this is the problem.  Both strings measure 5.57nF with 102.2Meg
resistance (the 10 x 10Meg drain/equalization resistors that Terry loves so
much).  

I really like this design in that it is fast, simple, effective, and cheap
(cost effective ;-)).  Note the wide spacing between the strings which
allow only one string to be used without fear of arc over.  The space
between the individual caps allows good cooling and "blowout" space if one
cap should decide to let loose.  The big brass bolts are common hardware
parts and the crimped and soldered lug terminals make perfect connections
to the bolts.  The high quality perf board holds it all just fine and
allows very fast assembly.  I was sure to wrap the resistor leads well so
that if the solder melts the resistors will still stay in place.  This
avoids the problem Brian found...

I think when you compare this to trying to make an oil cap, you will be
convinced as to why everyone is jumping into MMCs.  It is just too darn
easy....

I would like to thank Nathan for this fun exercise in coil trouble
shooting.  "I" have especially enjoyed the adventure!!  Hopefully, this new
cap will solve his problems.  His coil is REALLY well designed and it was a
great mystery as to why such a "perfect" coil was not working.  Hopefully,
it will really "spark" with a good cap!!

I used 20 x 0.056uF 1600V Panasonic caps from my pals at DigiKey in two
strings.  They should run warm in Nathan's coil but they should survive
just fine.  It is about time I plunked down another $1400 bucks for another
batch.  At least they have three thousand plus in stock, unlike this
summer, so I can get them "next day" ;-))

Cheers,

	Terry