Re: Ground box

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

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>

Hi Al,

On 13 Apr 01, at 12:05, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
> <uncadoc-at-juno-dot-com>
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 09 Apr 2001 23:01:49 -0600 "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> writes: > Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz >
> <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz> > > Hi Ray, > > On 9
> Apr 01, at 18:33, Tesla list wrote: > > > Original poster: "Ray
> Robidoux by way of Terry Fritz > > <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
> <robidoux-at-basystems-dot-com> > > > > Hi Malcolm, Ray, All, > > Malcolm, I
> can appreciate your studies, but geez wiz, is this braided vs solid
> going to make a significant amount of difference in a working Tesla
> coil? I try to strive for all the arc juice I can get!     I know
> every absolute small change can help in output, but I would think that
> we could get more substantial increases in power simply by improving
> our spark gap or the fine tuning of the capacitance in the tank, all
> other things being equal in the operation of a coil.  Makes me wonder
> if a piece of steel strap with copper coating in a primary would do a
> better job than a piece of solid nonferrous cable or silver tinned
> copper  tube.  After all, from what I hear the more evolved list
> members say, that the electrons always carry forth on the exterior of
> the wire/cable/tube,,, right?  So would a section of copper coated
> steel ribbon give superior results in a Tesla primary?  If so, why not
> start using the cheaper copper flashed steel coil stock for our
> primaries?  So I wonder, before I use a piece of copper coated steel
> bandstrap on my next experimental primary, is there anyone out there
> that has already tried steel? I see nice heavy copper coated steel
> plumbers strap for sale cheap!  That is what I will try soon on a
> primary, cause the price is right! .....................  Now into the
> braided cable.  I learned(much to my chagrin) after I specified good
> quality communications copper coax years ago to a customer, that a big
> professional outfit(Gray Sound)came along and said that a aluminum
> foil conductor in the shield of a coax with a steel interwoven drain
> wire and core wire was more benificial than a good quality copper
> sheilded cable with a copper center conducting core.  They would not
> say exactly why, but they insisted it would carry all signals better
> than any copper sheilded cable, and gave a big high powered sell
> nonetheless that all parts of the building be run in aluminum/steel
> coax cable rather than copper. Needless to say, they got the low bid
> for the "superior" aluminum/steel coax.   Was this a mass
> mesmerizinging because the contracted outfit brought stock in al/steel
> coax, or was it for a good reason that I am still trying to find out? 
> And a few years later I found that they had nothing but trouble with
> the al/steel coax with drifting and ghosting.  No amount of
> amplification or buffering could solve the problem.      They then
> went for all copper coax and it solved the problem. Hey I like the
> copper stuff, but please tell me, Am I missing something here?  Or did
> I already answer my own question?  Thank you.  Al.

If you are happy with what you are using, go ahead and use it. I'm 
simply reporting what I found and it shows that for a similar 
conductor size, solid wire, litz, pipe etc. outperforms braid. I went 
further than the low powered tests and tried the piece that I was 
testing under power and got an unequivocal confirmation of the 
measurements. I stand by the results of that test but would in no way 
want to force anybody to do anything differently. I do plead the case 
if I see someone claiming braid is better than pipe or whatever. Fair 
enough I would say?

Malcolm