primary/mmc stuff

["acmnovak" <acmnovak-at-email.msn-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hello everyone,
 
As some of you already know, I'm organizing a bulk MMC buy next week. I was
wondering what the consequences of not having bleeder resistors is? Does it
cause the cap to fail? Greg Hunters MMC failed and he didn't have bleeders...
This is the only failed MMC case I can think of other than ones caused by
direct strikes from their TC. 
Also, Is it true that you can rate an MMC by it's max DC voltage for your
transformer? We're going to be getting 1600 v -at- .047uF polypropylene caps, and
I was thinking of putting 10 or 12 in a string. What's the minimum I can get by
with to save $$$?
 
I've decided on a flat spiral made of copper tubing for my primary. I would
have gone with a more "novel" design approach but i wanted to have a shining
example of a modern TC.  I'm sick of messing with flashovers and
overcoupling...
I got a lexan cutting board from my local Big-K (K-Mart) for $8 which I will
use as primary supports. I'm planning on making one as seen here:
<http://www.fwpd-dot-net/dona/tesla/primary.htm>http://www.fwpd-dot-net/dona/tesla/
primary.htm 
Only, i'm not going to paint mine and it will be on a plywood table. 
How far does the strike rail have to be before the primary arcs to it?  I'm
thinking only an inch and a half... Does that sound acceptable?
How, exactly, would one mount these supports other than screws? I was thinking
of cutting little blocks of HDPE and gluing them to the side of the supports
and then using nylon bolts to hold them down... Just a thought.
Thanks,
 
        -Michael