Stacking offset of primary supports

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

Original poster: "Scott Hanson by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <huil888-at-surfside-dot-net>

Alan -

Relative to making primary supports, you asked:
..."what is the point of stacking them with the offset that all of you 
described?".

The reason is to allow the primary to be wound in a spiral of consistent 
"pitch" (uniform spacing between each turn). To achieve this, each support 
must have its notches offset from the adjacent supports. If all the 
supports are identical, with no offset, the notches will be aligned in 
concentric circles instead of along a spiral path. Of course you CAN make 
all the supports identical, and offset the supports on whatever base they 
are attached to, but this results in a rather uneven appearance. This is 
apparent if the primary is mounted on a round base where the mismatch 
between the ends of the supports and the outside diameter of the base 
becomes very visible.

Scott Hanson