Re: Form Material Info!!!

["Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

> 
> 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 :-((

And, they use their own kinds of glue... ABS adhesive is different than PVC
adhesive (although they are similar, both are solvent based, and the
solvents are similar...)

> 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?

Lots of UV lasers.  Anyone who can build a TC can probably also build a
pulsed nitrogen laser (337 nm).  Check the back issues Scientific
American's "Amateur Scientist" column for info on building one. Other
possibilities are excimers, etc.

>>Terry just happens to have a N2 pulsed laser cartridge here on his desk
as a paper weight ;-) Probably still works fine<<