RE: trigger gap

["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>

Steve: For coils that are non PT and pig powered, it seems that T-gaps are
the way to go. The negative side is that the more power, the greater the
need for quenching air power on the T.
I have had great success with the t-gap I built with Marc Metlicka's
guidance and some checking with Terry Fritz when Marc was not available.

The paper I wrote and which Terry published on the server (A PDF) has all
the details and should be easy for anyone to follow. The best part is...no
machine shop needed. True, an SRSG is the way to go for higher power and
many have had wonderful results right away. Most find that material
selection is tough (like G-10) and tweaking can eat your lunch.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/tgap.pdf

Personally, I feel a 120mA supply would work with a t-gap. Be sure to get
the highest air flow you can to cool that T. That is a must. The 6-inch fan
I bought surplus really throws a bunch. I think its 220 cfm.

LTR MMCs are also a must since you will automatically be running at 120 BPS.
BIG improvement over the static gap I assure you.
And the cost was decent. Mine was around $40.
Oh, another downside: Extremely noisy and high output of welding level UV. I
like to call it a bug zapper on steroids.

The triac supplied is under-wattaged. The Wells coil is very efficient.
Fritz knows more about that part than I do. The Wells cost at Auto Zone was
about $12.

Good luck\\And safety first...aluminum cuts...argh.

Ted

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 12:46 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: trigger gap


Original poster: "Steven Ward by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>

Hi ,


I was wondering if i would get any benifit from a triggered gap.  MY coil is

using an 1800VA NST PSU.  I currently have a .0283uf MMC cap.  This is a 
little LTR for my 15000/120 ma PSU.  Im already getting 5 foot arcs.  My 
calculated max output is 6 feet.  Im using a RQ static gap at the moment.  I

was wandering the net and saw some mentioning of a triggered gap.  Ive seen 
this on the list too.  I also was just looking at Ted Rosenbergs T gap.  Im 
curious as to how specific you need to follow his design.  Do i really need 
to replace the triac inside the dimmer, with a different one??  Also, do i 
need a Wells coil?(i guess i might as well).  If i have to i will double my 
capacitor for .0566uf.  At this power level my RQ gap does get warm even 
with the fan.  So is it worth it??  I also would have to find some tungsten,

which i havent really tried yet.  I would really like the SRSG but i dont 
have that much money, and i dont have the machine shop available to make a 
rotor.  So how effective is the Tgap??  And does anyone else have plans for 
a Tgap?  Thanks guys,

Steve Ward.