RE: neon tube indicator and homemade Grounding Rod

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

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>



Regarding Ground sticks:

Here is a good design for a homemade one:

1.  Get a 8ft piece of PVC (choose thickness based on how long and rigid you
want it - for short ones 1" diameter is okay)  For a 15kV NST coil a 2.5 to
3ft grounding stick should be efficient for use in discharging your caps.

2.  Put an end cap on one end where you hold it.

3.  Take another end cap, put a 1/4"-20 bolt through it and put that on the
discharge end.  

4.  Next, go to homedepot and get some of that steel cable that comes in a
plastic sleeving.  Its very cheap and better than copper as there is more
resistance.  Attach one end to a 1/4" ring lug and attach to the end of your
discharge 1/4" bolt.  

5.  Next, take the other end of the cable and attach to a ground somewhere.
A crocodile clip works good in this application.

This should be sufficient.  Of course, if you plan on using this to draw
streamers from your coil, i would make it quite a bit longer.  Also, if you
plan on discharging your caps when they could be fully charged, you might
incorporate like a 10k, 100 watt resistor in series between the discharge
bolt and the steel cable (also located at the top of the discharge stick)

And its also better to touch this stick to every visible point in your tesla
coil JUST TO MAKE SURE.  Remember, its your life!!!!

Dan