RE: Seperate transformer cabinet or not?

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

Original poster: "Ted Rosenberg by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Ted.Rosenberg-at-radioshack-dot-com>

Bill, Matt and all:
I'd like to put in a "plug" for a separate NST box.
When you even put one 45 pound NST smack dab in the middle of a 2 foot
square base cabinet, the cabinet becomes extremely awkward to manage. And
for those of us who insist on portability, it became a serious issue.

So, I took the 15/60, the Corcom filter and misc switches and mounted all in
a plywood box with its own casters and a big steel lifting handle.

The unit connects to the MOV filter board by using my own HV cables,
RadioShack #8 MegaCable sleeved inside air compressor hose and PL-259
connectors. So far it has worked very well. The arrangement made transport
and setup at this year's haunted house a breeze.

If I go the multi-NST route, EACH will be in it's own container with
inter-box cabling. This will provide maximize flexibility for transportation
and setup.

Check the photo on Ross Overstreet's page for a shot of the arrangement.
http://users.better-dot-org/roverstreet/TCBFW/tcbfw_teslathon_2001.htm
The red box on the left is the NST power supply.

Hope this is helpful.

Safety First

Ted


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 9:01 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Seperate transformer cabinet or not?


Original poster: "Bill Vanyo by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<vanyo-at-echoes-dot-net>

I'm about to add a 4th 15/60 NST to my power supply, and plan to leave
room for a 5th.  After that, I get a pig.

I went with the third choice - seperate power supply unit.  It's not
exactly a box - just a big plank of heavy plywood with 2-by-4 rails on
the sides, two big wheels on one end and a handle on the other.  Kind of
like a hand truck in shape and form.  Mounted on it are my NST's,
protection circuit on the high voltage side, and line filters on the
mains side.  I've got a variac, but I keep that seperate, because a)
adding it on would make the weight too much, even with the big wheels,
and b) I like to use it for other things occassionally (like motor
control for winding jig).

Three 15/60 NST's is a lot of weight.  Four or five is difficult to
manage any way you do it, but certainly easier as a seperate unit.

Keeping the transformer as a seperate unit should make the later upgrade
to a pig easier.  

	- Bill Vanyo

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com>
> 
> Hi All,
>          My TC toy is having growing pains. As I add the 3rd, 4th and 5th
15/60
> to it, I have no space left on the platform under the coil. My options
seem to
> be:
> 
> 1) Add another 28 x 28 x 12 box under the existing coil platform,
bringing the
> toroid a foot closer to the ceiling. (would leave 26" clearance to the
cage
> top)
> 2) Rebuild the platform -at- 48" x 33"  (will just squeeze out the door, but
> doesn't leave much space in the truck for the other stuff)
> 3) Make the transformer box a separate entity that sits on its own
wheeled base
> between the control cabinet and the coil (caged and grounded, of course)
with
> HV outlet cables. I have 20-ft 75KV-rated cables with "federal" plugs and
> sockets, if needed.
>          In a majority of the pig-powered coils I've seen, the transformer
is
> separate, while the 1 and 2 NST types are usually integrated into the
base with
> the filter, cap, gap, and primary. Is there any operational reason to
prefer
> one method over the other, or is it all a matter of mass, girth, and
> appearance?
> 
> Thanx,
> Matt D.