Re: 3/4, 1/4, or 3/4 copper tubing?

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

Original poster: "Nicholas Field by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <nick.field-at-hvfx.co.uk>

Dan, All,

Solid RF grounds are a very good idea for several reasons: A large voltage
will develop across a poor ground in operation with all the attendant safety
risks.  A badly grounded coil will also kick out RFI in a big way.  In terms
of radiated interference the difference between a good and bad grounding
system is night and day.  Lastly the plain fact is that your coil will throw
_bigger sparks_ with a proper RF ground.  That fact is born out by my
personal experience and that of many others.

Some of the grounding systems of old may have been overkill, perhaps because
of the ham radio background of many coilers, but a loose connection to a gas
main (apart from being damned irresponsible) is not a good ground.  I'll
always prefer overkill to underkill.

Safe Coiling
Nick
_______________
Nick Field, HVFX
www.hvfx.co.uk



 >  > I am in the process of building my new coil, but wondering if I should
use
 >  > 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 inch copper tubing for my primary. My power supply
will
 > be
 >  > 2 12/60 nst's (1440W). Also, what size tubing should I use for my spark
 > rail?
 >  > Thanks
 >  > Adam
 >
 >
 > You'll get a lot of different opinions on this, but 1/4" copper tubing
 > should be just fine.  I run two (2) 15kV/60mA NSTs using only a
 > 1/4" copper tubing and it barely gets warm even during long run periods.
 >
 > Strike rail???  A strike is good for looks.  Functionally, its basically
 > worthless in my opinion.   In my experience, the same people claiming you
 > need
 > a ground system consisting of six hundred, geometrically spaced, 20 foot
 > rods in the earth are the same people who are going to tell you you need
 > a strike rail.
 >
 > Heck, my grounding system now is just tying my braided rf ground lead with
a
 > single loose-fitting overhand knot around my gas line going into my house.
 > Works great!!!!
 >
 > Dan
 >