Re: Secondary preparation and capping

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

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

In a message dated 11/18/01 6:05:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

>  am currently in the process of building my first coil. What I'm wonder is
>  how necessary is it to sand down the secondary before winding it? My PVC 
has
>  been sitting in my basement for a few years, so it's good and dry.  If I
>  just cover it in a layer of polyurathane, do I *really* need to sand out
>  every little bump, and the letters (which are red, not black)? This just
>  seems like a lot of extra work, and I don't see how it would make that much
>  of a difference.

Patrick,

You are a very wise man indeed.  It gives absolutely no benefit to
do any sanding.  I never sand, and my coils work fine.

>  
>  Secondly, does it make any difference where the caps (as in the plugs) for
>  the secondary are placed? I don't have access to the tools necessary to 
make
>  nice round circles to plug the ends with, so would just sticking PVC 
endcaps
>  on be acceptable?

Yes PVC endcaps are fine.  I often don't use full caps, but just
a 2" x 3/4" piece of wood across the top, which leaves the top 
mostly open in a 4" or 6" diameter form.  I've never had sparks
zip down though the secondary, but folks have for some reason.

Cheers,
John

>  
>  Thanks,
>  "Steadily getting more excited about completing his first coil"
>  Patrick.
>