Re: XRTs and Connectors etc...

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

Original poster: "Christopher Boden by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

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

>
>Actually, you REALLY have to be careful about how you use these high 
>voltage
>connectors.  YOU MUST FOLLOW
>the manufacturers instructions to the "T" when attaching these cables.  AND
>DO NOT JUST FILL THESE THINGS
>with oil before attaching them as the person above erroneously stated.

Sorry, when we get them they usually arrive on a pallet being unloaded by 2 
guys and a truck. We get them from local service techs and they frequently 
have little or no history and we have yet to get one with "Manufacturers 
Instructions". The most documentation we've ever gotten on one was a tag on 
the side stating the connection points. The giant ones we have came from the 
UoW Physics Dept where they has sat in a corner for 30 years. They came with 
no documentation either. The Geek Group has owned, stocked, or traded over 
30 XRTs in the past two years alone, and we have yet to get full specs on 
one. We get them in all shapes and sizes from little 200lbs dental units, up 
to the massive twins that are almost 3' cubes.


>
>Some high voltage connectors ARE PRONE TO CATASTROPHIC FAILUER when filled
>with oil (or typically grease) prior to installation.
>

We've never filled them with grease, we use standard tranny oil (We have it 
by the drum). We were told by a local tech to put a little oil in them, 
that's what we do. We have yet to have any sort of failure, catastrophic or 
otherwise. And I'm a *master* of Catastrophic Failure :)

Of course, at 150,000VDC, just about any kind of failure gets to be 
spectacularly catastrophic :)


>Also, there are proper ways to torque these units which must be followed as
>well.  Usually you torque to a certain parameter, wait a specified period 
>of
>time,
>and then torque again.  Also, overtightenting these connectors causes the
>interior dielectric to "twist" which will lead to catastrophic failure.

Thank's for the tip, never had it happen, we wipe them down, pour a little 
oil in, then *SLOWLY* slide the plug in (do it quick and they spurt, DOH!) 
then tighten the ring by hand just down to snug. In all the things that the 
Group and I have managed to break, burn, or destroy, we have as yet been 
unable to ruin an XRT. But I'm sure with the proper amount of time and 
funding I'll manage to incinerate one, and if I don't, a student will.

The Geek Group doesn't own a torque wrench, perhaps I'll put that on the 
list of things to get.......gotta get a spud wrench too......just because 
Spud Wrench is such a cool name for a tool.

Kinda like Pole Pig.

>
>Dan

Duck




Christopher "Duck" Boden Geek#1
President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
The Geek Group
www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!

"He had that rare weird electricity about him--that
extremely wild and heavy presence that you only see in
a person who has abandoned all hope of ever behaving
normally." --Hunter S. Thompson