Re: Aaaaaaa!! My NST is toast! Salvage tips?

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

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

I have done this many many times!  But my transformers start broken and i 
fix them, that way its FREE.  Lookie here:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/srward16/rebuild.htm

its my little page that talks about rebuilding, to some extent (not as much 
as should be there, but im not a good at typing, so it takes some time, and 
thats annoying).  But it may help out.  Like i say, if you have a France, 
your lucky, most other NSTs are a real pain in the butt!  If you want to 
email me offlist, i have lots of experience with this, and im willing to 
help out.

Steve Ward.






>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Aaaaaaa!! My NST is toast! Salvage tips?
>Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 16:51:01 -0700
>
>Original poster: "Stephen Conner by way of Terry Fritz 
><twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <steve-at-scopeboy-dot-com>
>
>HI guys, I'm sure you've been here before and I wonder if you could give 
>me some advice... My NST just died. One of the legs is shorting to ground. 
>I suppose this is what I get for using a resonant cap instead of LTR!
>
>I removed the steel case but it made no difference, which suggests that 
>it's shorting to the core. I tested to see if I could melt the potting 
>compound, but it burns instead of melting. It is a very hard brittle amber 
>substance so I guess it must be some kind of thermosetting resin, not tar. 
>So that rules out the oven trick.
>
>My plan is to carefully chisel the resin off and see if I can find where 
>it's arcing. If I accidentally trash the windings while chiselling (more 
>than likely) plan 'B' is to just set fire to the whole lot in a trash can 
>in the yard. That way I should be able to salvage the core and I can try 
>winding my own transformer. I know it's easier to just get another NST, or 
>a couple of MOTs, but I fancy the challenge.
>
>Is this going to work? Does anyone know a better way? Can I salvage the 
>core like that or will the heat from the fire mess up its magnetic 
>properties? Your $.02 would be much appreciated. Merry Christmas!
>
>Steve C.