Re: Rotary spark gaps

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

Original poster: "R Heidlebaugh by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <rheidlebaugh-at-zialink-dot-com>

on 11/25/01 10:03 AM, Tesla list at tesla-at-pupman-dot-com wrote:

> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> Don't use it.  It melts like butter and cold flows even at room
> temperature.  The electrodes will melt it and fly off.  Guess how I know
> this ;-))
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Terry
> 
> 
> At 04:27 PM 11/25/2001 +1000, you wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I was wondering how how the rotating electrodes on a ~10kVA RSG get?
>> The reason I ask is I want to use 1/2" LDPE as a rotor. I can get this
>> easy and cheaply from a cutting board. It seems strong enough as I have
>> mounted two bolts in one and tried pulling them apart with vice grips -
>> I can't. What I am worried about is the rather low (somewhere around
>> 130 Oc) melting point. If the electrodes get hot and melt the plastic
>> I've got problems. Has anyone ever used it before?
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Greg Peters
>> Department of Earth Sciences,
>> University of Queensland, Australia
>> Phone: 0402 841 677
>> http://www.geocities-dot-com/gregjpeters
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
Make a casting of the shape you want made of 3 pieces of glass cloth disks
and fiber glass resin loaded with alumina powder from a ceramic supplier.
Bake the powder dry in your oven before use. Alumina is Al2O3 not metal.
    Robert   H