solid cores

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Original poster: "Chris Swinson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <exxos-at-cps-games.co.uk>

Hi everyone,

Has anyone tried a solid core to a secondary before ?  I tried a small core
on my scope and frequency went down from 300khz to about 200khz.  When you
measure base current ( with DMM via scope and sig-generator ) the current
without a core is 0.600ma.  With the core it is 0.040ma.  Normally with a
bigger coil ( more inductance ) the current can go as high as 2ma. I would
have thought it would do the same with a solid core with the coil. But it
had the reverse effect to what I expected.  I have some 2" tubes which I may
try as a solid core for a secondary. If I run the coils at very low power
then arcing from the coil to the core should not be a problem.  I wonder
before I fry my coils if anyone has tried this before. I expect at some
point someone's tried solid cores before.  I wonder how it would effect
spark length.  Also I wonder if there any safety aspects I should know about
apart from arcing to the core.

Chris