RE: Treenails??

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>

There is no reason to avoid the use of metal screws.  I had performed an
experiment where I observed the ringdown time of the primary, with no
secondary.  A faster ringdown time would indicate that losses were occuring.
I did observe a faster ringdown time when large metal objects like NST's or
shorted strike rails were brought within a foot or so of the primary.  But I
could take a handful of metal screws directly into the center of the primary
with no observable change in ringdown times. Save a tree and save yourself a
lot of trouble.

There was a thread on this List about a year or so ago, where someone had
reported that a shorted NST secondary could release a high voltage shock
after the short was opened.  In theory this could happen.  If the secondary
was shorted at the time of peak current flow and that energy stored in the
magnetic field of the secondary, the energy could in theory persist for an
observable period of time.  With NST secondary inductance in the thousands
of Henries and winding resistance of a few KOhms, the L/R time constant
could be a couple of seconds.  I tried to replicate this by shorting the
secondary with power applied, them immediately removing power and opening
the short into a small NE-2 neon bulb, but was unable to see anything
happen.

Gary Lau
Waltham, MA USA

>Original poster: "ebyng by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<ebyng-at-netlimit-dot-com>
>
>odd topic, hmm?
>
>here we go..
>
>I read and have held firm to the "do not use metal screws in tesla coil
>construction".  If any of you have built boats or have looked into that,
>you know what this is about.  For those of ya'll who dont, a treenail is
>the 1600-1700's answer to the nail.  Its basically a piece of dowel with
>slits  sawn into the wood about a 1/2 inch long, both ends.  you would then
>drill a hole in which ever pieces of wood you were going to join, and then
>place wedges into both of the slots.  with the wedges still in, you would
>lower the dowel into the hole and hit it into place with a mallet..
>When the wedges were hit, the ends of the dowel would expand, acting like
>the treads of a screw...
>
>Get any of that??
>
>good.
>
>So, could they be used to hold together the base/table for the primary??
>
>Why not screws, btw, and what are YOU useing??
>
>second section..
>
>has anyone ever known/heard of NST's retaining charge after their
unplugged?
>
>Thanks
>Erik