Re: thoriated tungsten electrodes

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

Original poster: "Steve Mach by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <gossamer-at-cox-dot-net>

Gregory,All,
                  The tungsten rod's I use are for aluminum and have a
"green"
band on one endand are 1/8"x6" tungsten(no alloy's). Rods with a "red" band
are 2% thoriated tungsten.
My mount's are 1 1/2" x 4" brass barstock w/ a 1/8" hole for rod.Rod's are
secured w/ a #8x1 1/4" set screw.
I get them from a custom fabrication shop next door to where I work,I also
pick the "brains" of their fabricator's. This is where above info came
from.I don't know if this would be the same Down Under.
Shurely U. of Queensland would have a maintenance or fabrication shop?
SM



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 12:33 PM
Subject: thoriated tungsten electrodes


> Original poster: "Mr Gregory Peters by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <s371034-at-student.uq.edu.au>
>
> Hello all,
>
> Regarding tungsten spark gap electrodes: Do thoriated electrodes work
> noticeably better than regular tungsten? I'm just curious because my
> 11kV pig powered system chews up 4mm thoriated tungsten welding rod for
> breakfast (no kidding). I don't need that radioactive dust floating
> around. I think the reason my rods are eaten so quickly is because they
> are quite long and can't conduct the heat away to the electrode supports
> fast enough. I don't fancy rebuilding my RSG again however. I have been
> reading some TIG welding brochures. Apparently, thoriated rods are best
> for DC work and zirconiated rods are better for AC work. Wouldn't
> zirconiated rods therefore be better for tesla coil work?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg Peters
> Department of Earth Sciences,
> University of Queensland, Australia
> Phone: 0402 841 677
> http://www.geocities-dot-com/gregjpeters
>
>
>
>
>