Re: thoriated electrodes

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 5/26/02 11:23:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:


>
> but after an accident that wiped out the tungsten SRSG tips I had to do 
> an immediated repair job and went to brass 1/4 20 bolts instead.



Scot,

Were the brass electrodes thicker than the tungsten?  If not,
I wonder why the wear-rate was reduced?  

It would be interesting to try a number of different metals for
rotary electrodes and compare them.  However, each coil
may work a little differently depending on power, etc.  For
example I used brass electrodes in one coil, and they wore
much faster than steel or copper.

Some books suggest that metals such as magnesium, aluminum, or
zinc are better than copper.  Some folks fear that magnesium
will ignite, but I don't think that will happen unless the electrodes
are very thin.  I would think that such metals would not quench
that well.  It would seem that very few tests of such things have
been done by coilers.

Cheers,
John


>
> there was an increase of  spark length, a reduction of gap wear , but a 
> bit more erratic behaviour in the spark gap ...
>
> just something to think about..............
>
>
> Scot D
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