RE: First Light and More

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

Original poster: "Ted Rosenberg by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Ted.Rosenberg-at-radioshack-dot-com>

Jeff and anyone else needing a really good spark gap:

As someone who made a successful, linear, static gap of 9 heavy copper sweat
tubes, each 1.75 diam x 2.5 long, and who later purchased a motor and disk
and electrodes to make an SRSG, I can say with certainty that for at least
moderate coils, you cannot beat Metlicka's Trigger Gap!!!

The total parts cost breaks down (approximately) as follows:
Lutron Dimmer $10
HEI Coil (Wells at AutoZone) $12
20A Triac $15-20
Muffin (varies...mine was $20 but it is 250CFM - you don't need one this
big)
Misc small components $10 at RadioShack
Brass via McMaster $10 (or whatever mounting you find best for the welding
rods)
Welding Rods 1/8 inch thoriated tungsten - box of 10 $8

It can easily be built for much less. I tend not to shop for bargains as
many coilers do. Time is my biggest enemy and you can't buy extra time when
you have a haunted house deadline.

If you wait a day or two I will write step-by-step and send off list a PDF
of the wiring diagram to anyone asking. I am that excited about it.

As for the 9" pie plates, that was easy.
I extended the flex duct and curved it carefully so the inner diameter was
about 8" or so.
Then when I actually connected the ends, I made sure that the ID was correct
for two pie plates JB Welded together with a 3/8 hole in the exact middle
for mounting. You should use washers on both sided cause the metal guage is
on the thin side.

Then after applying aluminum tape to make it smooth and hold everything in
alignment, I applied beads of JB Weld (I ought to own stock in that company)
along the edge where the duct met the pie plate rim. Hope that helps.

Safety First

Ted

=====================================
Subject: RE: First Light and More


Original poster: "Johnson, Jeffrey D -at- PWC by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jeffrey.d.johnson-at-l-3com-dot-com>

Ted,
Your system specs are very close to mine.  I have a 15/60 NST.  My secondary
is 860 turns of #22 magnet wire 24" long.  My primary is 10 turns of 3/8"
refrig tubing (Home Depot didn't have 1/4").  BTW, 3/8" is a bitch to work
with.  I was planning on using 4" dryer duct and making it 18" diameter
center to center (22" total outside diameter).  But it sounds like this may
be too small.  How do you use 9" pie plates?  I was planning on attatching
the duct to a piece of circular plywood and covering with Al foil.  I'm also
planning on using an RQ style static gap with a heavy duty muffin fan.  I've
read a little about these triggered gaps and would like to know more.
JJ
SLC, UT

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 8:20 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: First Light and More


Original poster: "Ted Rosenberg by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Ted.Rosenberg-at-radioshack-dot-com>

Hey all...thanks to everyone for the great suggestions when I first powered
up the coil and got no output. The problem turned out to be a defective lead
to the MMC. I removed the MMC and checked all the connections. Then I
checked all the leads and that's when I found the open lead. I have been
soldering since 1953. But still, never take anything for granted!

So, with a functioning MMC, I powered up Friday night and got 2 foot
streamers. With a bigger topload, I got consistant 3 footers.

Phil Rembold at the No. Texas Teslathon confirmed I needed a bigger topload.
I went from a 4 x 16 to a 6 x 24 with a great improvement. Dryer duct and
pie plates.

But the best news is the fantastic operation of Metlicka's Triggered
Sparkgap!
It is simple, reliable. easy to adjust, and apparently Stupid-Proof.
I will be writing out all  the assembly details and schematics in the next
few days from my present collection of scribbly notes. I'll post them to my
website then for all.

Marc...don't let this go to your head, but, you have got a great system!
Wanna buy a synced motor I won't use?

But with Marc's gap, be ready to wear headphones and welding goggles.
In fact, the new slogan for coilers using the gap is "WHAT?"
Now you can have the noise of a much larger coil.

General specs of the new $6,000,000 Coil...the boring part:

NST: Allanson 15/60 - New...$140
Primary: 16t, 1/4" tubing, 24" diam. Tapped at 10
Cap: two strings of 11 each of C-D .015µF/2K (the Geek caps) on 6x9 Plexi
boards for a total of .028µF LTR
Filter: Terry's MOV board..still going...and going and going
Gap: Marc Metlicka's Trigger Gap. Lutron Fan Dimmer with 20A Motorola Triac
feeding a Wells HEI coil. Three electrodes of 1/8 thoriated tungsten rods in
1/2 x 1/2 brass posts each 4 inches tall. A 250 CFM fan above the three
posts. COOL.
Secondary: 6.25 PVC about 40 inches long.
25" inches of #24 Green wire from Paramount in NJ.
Coated with Tap Plastics 2 part epoxy (thanks Michael Tandy).
Top Load: 6 x 24 dryer duct and 9" pie plates using 3/8 screw into a
RadioShack CB antenna mount.

The above are more than everyone wants to read I'm sure. But there they are.
Photos will be taken soon and posted. I will be glad to answer any questions
about Marc's gap that I can. <Thanks Terry for your testing. It helped sooo
much!>

The coil is installed and functioning just fine in The Hangmans House of
Horrors. I'll be taking photos of that on Wednesday evening.

Well, that is it for now.
Thanks everyone!

Safety First

Ted