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Re: First Firing since 1999: The Glorious odor...
Original poster: "Mr Gregory Peters by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <s371034-at-student.uq.edu.au>
Dave,
Nice story. Richard Hull has moved onto desktop fusion research, and
has not been coiling for some time. Richard Quick has
just "disappeared". I don't know where he is, or what he does. I tried
his old email address to no avail. If you ever get hold of him, I'd
love to know. I miss his no-nonsense advice. His 10" coil was the most
impressive (for its power and size) that I have seen. What appliances
has your coil destroyed? And what were the conditions (distance from
coil, plugged in or not, etc)?
Cheers,
Greg Peters
Department of Earth Sciences,
University of Queensland, Australia
Phone: 0402 841 677
http://www.geocities-dot-com/gregjpeters
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Monday, August 12, 2002 3:04 pm
Subject: First Firing since 1999: The Glorious odor...
> Original poster: "Dave Hartwick by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ddhartwick-at-earthlink-dot-net>
>
> Guys,
> Circa 1999: The last coiling session. I was firing a 6" system
> running at
> ~140 kHZ. I have 8" and 10" secondaries--not enough room. 5kVA
> Piglet power
> with a bank of 8 HDPE salt-water caps--.025 ufd total. These caps were
> replaced with 2 Condenser Products 0.05 ufd, 20 kVAC units--600
> clams worth.
> A minimal difference was noted switching to the commercial CP
> caps. I was
> getting about 50-60" spark with a vigorous air-blast gap. I guess
> I got
> discouraged and decided to call it a day for a while. I also
> decided to
> allow the dust to collect in 1993 when, in my ignorance, I blew 2
> 15/120NSTs.
>
> Well, I've been coiling since I was 12. The absurdly high
> secondary aspect
> ratios, needle gaps and plate glass caps. (My loving late
> Grandfather (W4KJ)
> built for me an 811A VTTC that I entered in the science fair. This was
> around 1972. Do they still do such things?) It seems that once it
> is in
> one's blood, the urge returns and returns, never to go away. It is
> intractable. For me it seems to return on roughly 4 year intervals.
> -----------------------
>
>
> Tonight I fired again, and now recall once again why I love
> Coiling. What is
> it about Tesla Coils? The odor is utterly unique! No other phenomenon
> produces that smell. The discharge and sound! My otherwise
> tolerant wife who
> fears my coils recognized the odor immediately.
> -----------------------
>
>
> Initially, I couldn't figure out what to do. Should I build a
> state-of-the-art 4" system, utilizing the latest technology in an
> effort to
> master the latest techniques? Finally, I decided tonight to use what
> hardware I have on hand from previous sessions. I simply wanted
> some spark.
> I suspect you guys understand.
>
> To make a long story longer--I wanted to simply cobble some stuff
> togetherto get some spark at low 15/30 NST power levels, but I
> could not initially
> find hardware that would resonate. This primary, that secondary
> and topload,
> blah, blah... Then I considered my 833A VTTC components (Thanks
> John Freau).
> I finally set up a 6" system using my "patented" Slinky toroids, a
> 144 uH
> cylindrical VTTC primary(!), and a ~ 0.006 ufd MMC cap made from
> Panasonicecw-h 0.018 ufd 1600 vdc caps (more VTTC components). The
> design locus for
> this system was my main 6" secondary with 2 slinky toroids, res
> about 200
> kHZ. I fiddled and fiddled some more with the primary tank
> circuit, hooked
> it up, and BAM, I was right on. There are those discharges, magically
> leaping into the air. The physics at this point are well
> understood (I
> think), but it never ceases to amaze me.
>
> I've never seen such performance from a 15/30 NST powered system! (Oh
> Yes--using my old RQ static gap.) I attribute the never-before-
> seen (in my
> lab) performance to the MMC caps. Previously, I had only fired
> with HDPE
> salt-water caps on low power systems--not bad--much better than
> glass, but
> quality MMC blows the best salts away, and then some. Wow!
>
> The astonishing thing was that I nailed the tuning using my old
> Tektronicstube scope and Tenma sig generator/freq counter. The old
> instincts and feel
> quickly returned--apparently--more probably I was just lucky.
>
> The significant thing is that I was not sure that I wanted to
> begin a new
> round of Tesla experimentation; but after this quicky/cobbled session
> tonight, there is no doubt. I had destroyed quite a few appliances
> duringprevious piglet firing sessions--around 5 kVA; but now in
> 2002, coils are
> much better understood and I shall bring that new knowledge to bear.
>
>
> I'm anxious to build some serious MMC caps now--which brand and
> value to
> use, not sure yet. What a tremendous discovery, MMC caps! I'm also
> eager to
> build a rotary gap, something I've never used in my systems.
>
> Finally--May I ask if some of the masters are still coiling?
> Richard Hull,
> and especially Richard Quick? RQ was my mentor during the early
> days some
> 10+ years ago. We spent many hours on the phone. He was quite
> generous. I
> wonder if he is still active.
>
> I reiterate: What a thrill to rather impulsively throw some dusty
> hardwaretogether and have it scream!
> Dave Hartwick
> KA3STE
> Chambersburg, PA
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