RE: Form Material Info!!!

["Richard Barton" <richardbarton-at-caving5.freeserve.co.uk> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Thanks Jim

This foamed DWV pipe.... I've never seen it in the UK. We
seem to have-
1. Thick PVC (grey) pipe, easy to drill and cut. Pretty heavy.
2. A kind of black piping, thinner than the grey, could also be PVC.
3. A brown, thin walled pipe, seems to be more brittle and prone to
cracking when you drill it. It could be ABS. I don't know.
What I do know is that the three different types never seem to be in
compatible diameters ! They have all sorts of coupling joints etc, but
they all seem to only fit their own type of pipe :-((
I've used the white ABS on a few short secondaries, but for the taller ones,
I use grey PVC. I'm working on an idea- only in tinkering stages at present-
building a very small tesla coil (only around 6 inches secondary) to be
powered
by electronics and a battery, to discharge along an ultra violet light beam
in a
hand-held "rifle"- nice idea...... probably a non-starter!
Is there such a thing as an ultra-violet laser?

							Richard Barton



-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2000 9:18 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Form Material Info!!!


Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov>


> I believe ABS means-
> Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
> ....... but of course, I could be wrong!

Nope.. you're right..

> I have used this stuff for a secondary tube in the past.... it
> seems pretty ideal, but I've only been able to get in it short
> lengths, in white, in a tumble dryer wall venting kit.
> Are there such things as ABS drainpipes? Are those brown-
> coloured drainpipes made of ABS ?

Yes... in the US, DWV (Drain Waste Vent) pipe is typically black in color
and is made from foamed ABS with a solid ABS skin (foamed for lighter
weight and less cost.. air is cheaper than plastic). Terrible stuff for HV
use: 1) The black is from carbon black added to the plastic (for UV
inhibition?), but also makes it a terrible insulator (don't go making a Van
deGraaff machine with it) and 2) The foamed core is really bad for HV, it
arcs even easier than free air. (Found this one out the hard way...)

> And perhaps you could tell me- is Polycarbonate, what we
> in the UK call "Perspex" ?

Lexan is a tradename for Polycarbonate.  Perspex is acrylic (aka
Plexiglas).