Re: Mirror Ball as VDG Sphere?

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>

> Now what about a VDG terminal? I was thinking I could
> hire a machinist to bore a nice round hole in one of
> these and have myself a professional-looking VDG
> sphere. However, I anticipate trouble with corona
> leakage at the rim of the entry hole, since it would
> not be beveled inward. Has anyone tried one of these
> atop a VDG?

I think that losses at the hole edges will not be a big problem. If
the hole is reasonably polished, and the support tube enters
precisely through it, charges leaking from the edge will just
accumulate in the tube surface, soon impeding further accumulation.
A slit thick plastic tube covering the edge of the hole will
improve the insulation. When I compare my double VDG with
external belts, that leak a lot through the slits in the terminal
where the belt passes, with a regular VDG with a kind of half-toroid 
lower part of the terminal, I notice that any difference in 
performance is difficult to observe.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz