Re: Oil caps

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "rob by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<rob-at-pythonemproject-dot-com>
> 
> I have some really big variable caps, maybe 2000pf or so.  I'm wondering
> what would happen if I mounted one vertically in a can filled with oil.
> I guess I'd get 2000pf x Er.  With Castor oil, I think that would be a
> 0.024uF variable cap.   Rob.  ps. What is the breakdown voltage/mil with
> Castor oil?

	I have a similar capacitor which some one gave me.  It's out in the
garage attic where I can't see it right now, but as I recall it has 8
dual-section 400 uufd capacitors in parallel, driven in parallel by a
gear train and mounted in a large lucite box filled with transformer
oil. Someone went to an awful lot of trouble, and I don't know why.  As
I recall the total capacitance is about 0.02 ufd max.  I've tried it as
the primary capacitor for a TC using a 9 kV NST and it broke down
immediately!

	There are a lot of oil-insulated transmitting variables available in
surplus, but nothing suitable for TC voltages.

Ed