Re: Best Material for Primary Coil Supports

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

Original poster: "Justin Hays by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <pyrotrons2000-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Hi Dan and All,

> I'm looking for a material to use for my pancake primary coil 
> supports.   In your experience what works best, in that its easy to

> machine and work with, and has good dielectric properties:
> 
> So far I was looking at:
> 
> PVC
> High Dense Polyethylene

* PVC
* HDPE (white plastic...cutting boards from Wal-Mart work great)
* LDPE
* Grade G10 or grade G3 fiberglass, high quality stuff
* Wood (microwave it for several minutes, then seal with epoxy or 
  varnish)
* Plexiglass
* Lexan
* Acrylic

Sometimes you can find scraps at a local hardware store...when noone
is looking, grab a handful out of the trash can in the
plastic-cutting area... Most of the time you'll find small, thin
pieces (which are still very useful), but not always! I've gotten
pieces as big as 1/4" thick 2' x 2' scraps. If it's lexan you're
really lucky.

If you are going the copper tube route with your primary, try to make
the supports as thick and solid as possible, as your coil will turn
out much prettier because you won't have to worry about
bending/breaking the supports.

I like using 1/2" thick material, and bolting each support to its
base with nylon hardware from the local HW store. Can't go wrong.

2-part cheap "Devcon" epoxy from Walmart works GREAT on lexan...you
could epoxy the supports to the base. Epoxy will NOT work with
plexiglass or acrylic.

Superglue does wonders...as you push the copper down on the supports,
tack them in place with the CyA. You'll notice that about 2 hours
after you're finished, a white fog will form all over your primary
from the fumes. Sand this off with fine sandpaper, it's worth it.

Later,

Justin Hays
KC5PNP
Email: justin-at-hvguy-dot-com
Website: www.hvguy-dot-com

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