Re: thoriated electrodes

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

Original poster: "Dave Larkin by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <teslaman15-at-hotmail-dot-com>

>Has anyone experimented with using a bimetal RSG? For example, the flying
>electrodes might be brass while the fixed electrodes could be tungsten.
>
>I don't recall any threads on this subject. Is there something y'all know
>that I don't?

Well, plenty of people have built them, in fact our very own list owner Chip 
has a nice RSG with brass flying electrodes and tungsten stationary 
electrodes.

Tungsten, Brass and Copper are all good for gap electrodes, tungsten lasts 
the longest (by far) but electrically they all perform the same.

-Dave-



>
>Daniel
>
>
>
>"Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> on 05/27/2002 02:03:11 PM
>
>To:    tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>cc:
>Subject:    Re: thoriated electrodes
>
>
>
>
>
>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
> >
>