Re: rotary question

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

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Bob, I tried to send this a couple days ago to the
list, but I'm experiencing some problems (been
battling a big pc crash the last few weeks).
Sending again. 

Hi Bob, 

Tesla list wrote: 

  Original poster: "bob golding by way of Terry
Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
  <yubba-at-clara-dot-net> 

  Hi All, 
      My rotary is coming along OK. I am wondering
about the advantages, 
  or not, of having the electrodes side by side
rather than end to end. I 
  am trying to design a fail safe system to allow
the static electrodes to 
  be pushed out of the way in the event of a
collision. I don't know if it 
  will work yet but the idea is to adjust the
electrode spacing so that 
  they just touch then back off  .020 thou. I know
the rotary electrodes 
  might  get pushed sideways as the rotor speeds
up so the idea is to try 
  and set the gap so that it is 0.20thou at 3000
rpm. This would be easier 
  to do if the electrodes are side on. I remember
someone (Bart?) playing 
  with something similar using copper tubes. Is
there any advantage to 
  having them side on. I will try it with
something less expensive and 
  brittle than tungsten first to see if the idea
works. 
  cheers 
  bob golding

What I built was the Spinning Pipes. 5/8" x 6"
copper piping was mounted
between two disks and spun. Two stationary
electrods were positioned one
above the other and conducted on each pipe as it
passed. This did not
perform well (lots of carbon) as compare to the
G10/tungsten. One thing
however, the gap did not change with rotary speed.
The two disk were
solid. 

The only advantage I see to having them sideways
would be the nice
curvature of the electrodes, but with rounded
ends, it would probably
perform the same. Why not simply mount the
stationarys on a pivot so if
they should get hit, they can swing to one side
slightly. I don't know if
you have ever had an electrode hit anything
before, but I have. Not nice!
I was using an inductive sensor for a test and got
it too close. Nearly
tore sensor and mounting bracket apart in one hit.
Luckily, it locked
into an area away from further hits. 

Take care, 
Bart