Paper Mache' Toriod Rules!

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

Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Dear List,

I just made a new toroid for my 6" x 30" pole xfmr
Tesla coil system.  It is based on a vinyl swimming
pool toy I bought at Wal Mart for $1.44.  Inflated as
hard as I could do it with lung power, the thing
appeared to be absolutely round, concentric, and
perfect. I covered it with several layers of paper
mache' using 50:50 Elmer's white glue & water and
newsprint.  It looked wrinkly at first and I wasn't
happy with it.  However, as the glue/water dried, the
newsprint strips shrunk and pulled all the wrinkles
out, leaving a smooth, drum-tight surface. Cool!

Application of the paper mache' proved to be a
tedious, time-consuming business. The project
stretched into days, I got sick of doing it, and the
paper skin was still too thin. Finally, I got a
brainstorm and wrapped the thing with bands of plain
white cotton bedsheet material that happened to be in
my wife's sewing scrap collection. The cloth covering
was very absorbent, and it soaked up plenty of
glue/water, followed by several sloppy coatings of
clear gloss urethane varnish. The varnish &
glue-soaked cloth hardened into a stiff shell--just
what I wanted.

Once the thing dried, I used four, 30-foot rolls of
Aluminum HVAC tape to cover it.  The center got a 1/2"
x 10" plywood disk covered with foil and cemented in
place with silicone glue. Finished dimensions are 8
inch chord and 26 inch diameter. It's very nice
looking--glossy smooth. Sorry, no pictures yet.

Before, I was using a car tire inner tube covered with
foil. The inner tube toroid was lopsided, wrinkly, and
just unbearably ugly. I only tolerated it because it
worked so well and boosted my spark length. The new,
bigger, slicker, prettier 8" x 26" toriod works even
better. The sparks have outgrown my garage with its
8-foot ceiling. Streamer hits to the walls & ceiling
are thick and Xenon lamp blue.

The finished product is satisfying in every way. 
However, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't. I'd
get me some 8" Aluminum flex-duct and form that around
a couple of Aluminum pie pans.  The pool toy toriod
took many days and uncountable hours. A flex-duct
toriod could've been knocked together in an evening. 

Actually, I've gotten little benefit from the better
performance because the garage is just too small for
the setup to really show it's stuff. For that, I'm
going to have to move outdoors. I don't know if that's
a real good idea though. My country neighbors are the
best folks in the world, the salt of the Earth, and I
love them, but I just don't think they'd understand or
appreciate the lightning machine spouting sparks in my
driveway. I'm already somewhat of a foreigner in this
little rural town. After all, I'm...you know,
Methodist!

Regards,

Greg
http://hot-streamer-dot-com/greg

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