Secondary prettping (was RE: Form Material Info!!!)

[Megavolt121-at-aol-dot-com (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi all
 I just wound another secondary recently on PVC. the only prepping i did to
it was to sand off all markings so I could have the cleanest surface
possible. Then I wiped the form w/ acetone to clean off the particles(I
guess denatured alcohol would work as well). After it dried for a day, I
stuck it on a winder and wound the coil. After the coil was wound, I
applied a layer of Pour-on to the coil to protect the wires. This did leave
a 1/16th inch layer of epoxy like clear coat on my coil and I think that I
can take a knife to the coil with out hurting the wires. I also put in two
internal baffles each about 1-2" in from the ends to prevent internal
arcing. At the teslathon, this secondary was tested out on a coil i built
and it ran fine w/out any problems. I believe that the extra coat of
varnish isn't really needed. My last coil had that coat on there and burned
up and this one hasn't so I'm not convinced that varnish undercoating is
needed.
-Alan

Original poster: "James" <mustang3-at-home-dot-com> 

 Hi there coilers,
     I just got to put my .02 in. I built a secondary with minimal prep. It
 carbon tracked almost immedatly. All secondarys of mine seem to die about 6
 in from the bottom (high stress area?). I then made another one with 4 or 5
 coats of varnish. It also carbon tracked. I then whipped out one more, I put
 a least 20 coats of varnish on it. So far so good.
     My system uses a 14400 pole xmfr, 8 in. X 36 in. sec, and a 66Nf cap with
 a
 static SG. I am currently getting 6 to 7 foot sparks(corona).
                                 James