Re: Tracking inside secondary former

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Clearspring1-at-aol-dot-com>

Hi David,

A clear success for your method!  I had been under the impression that the 
disks had to be sealed to the secondary former, but obviously your method 
works well in your setup.

I would still be most interested in hearing the theoretical underpinings of 
how internal flashover and carbon tracking originate in the first place -- 
the conditions and electrical dynamics that cause this phenomenon.  My 
electrical background is pretty modest and some enlightenment on this would 
help me and perhaps others.  Anyone?

Thanks!

Michael Tandy

> I have three spacers installed in my 12" Sonotube secondary tube. They are
>  cut out of a poly cutting board. They also have a 2" dia. hole thru the 
> center
>  to pass the 1 3/4" electrical PVC conduit which also supports the toroid at
>  the top. I simply cut each spacer disc to where it was slightly smaller 
than
>  the inside dia. of the Sonotube. They fit fairly snug, but can be slid up 
> and 
>  down inside the tube. Finally, I siliconed the disc spacers to the PVC con-
>  duit. This makes it easy to remove the toroid with the PVC conduit and the
>  spacer disc in one piece for maint. or transport. As a result, the 
secondary
>  coil is only 38" long, but I consistantly obtain 8 to 10 ft. sparks  with 
>  occa-
>  sional hits near 11 ft point-to-point, and I haven't had any internal 
>  flashover
>  or carbon tracking problems to date (been operational for over a year now).
>  
>  David Rieben
>