Re: PDT (Pig) failure modes (fwd)

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

Original poster: "sundog by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <sundog-at-timeship-dot-net>

As a note on that,
    My buddy James picked up my pole pig for me, and it had the manufacture 
date painted on the side of it.  While I've had no need to open it, I have 
had zero problems out of it.  I think for serious TC'ers, and even those 
just getting into pigs, if you're going to buy one from a supplier, you'd 
be better off buying one new instead of an old shonky one.  True, the old 
one may last forever, or it may burn out in 3 months, but the price 
difference wouldn't be that much compared to the price and shipping of a 
new pig if you killed the old one.

  Just my $.02

Shad G5-1203

At 08:36 PM 9/19/02, you wrote:
>Original poster: Tesla List Moderator <mod1-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
>
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 21:37:33 -0500
>From: Crow Leader <tesla-at-lists.symmetric-dot-net>
>To: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>Subject: Re: PDT (Pig) failure modes
>
>It does not sound like a water filled transformer supplier is reliable. I
>tried to order from them before and the best answer as to age and condition
>was "some look new".
>
>
>KEN
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 8:59 PM
>Subject: Re: PDT (Pig) failure modes
>
>
> > Original poster: "Steve White by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
><slwhite-at-zeus.ia-dot-net>
> >
> > Just a note of caution. Since T&R again seems to be willing to sell pigs
>for
> > Tesla coil use, let us be careful not to antagonize them by asking for
> > replacements, etc.. Even though the transformer may have indeed been
> > defective, I think it would be wiser just to eat one every now and then
>than
> > to beat up on them because one of their tranformers failed under Tesla
>coil
> > duty. I bought mine from T&R about a year ago and I want to keep them as a
> > reliable supplier.
> >
> > Steve: Coiling in Iowa
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 11:30 AM
> > Subject: RE: PDT (Pig) failure modes
> >
> >
> > > Original poster: "Dave Hartwick by way of Terry Fritz
> > <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ddhartwick-at-earthlink-dot-net>
> > >
> > > Godfrey,
> > > Very interesting. I never considered thermal expansion as a factor.
> > >
> > > It is clear that repair is virtually impossible unless rewinding is
> > > persued--forget it. By the time I do that, I may as well obtain
> > laminations
> > > and build a xfmr from scratch that is specifically designed for Tesla
> > duty.
> > > One feature of such a xfmr would be easily removable windings and a
> > variable
> > > magnetic shunt.
> > >
> > > I'm SURE Tesla duty would not be considered normal by T&R! I did talk to
> > > them yesterday and they are not willing to replace the core, which is
> > > expected. They are willing to sell me a complete replacement unit, no
> > > questions asked concerning usage. Good enough for me, though I might buy
> > one
> > > from Dr. Resonance. I think there is some water floating around in the
> > > bottom of the tank of this dead PDT, also some rusty chunks of
>something.
> > I
> > > must think that I received the unit from T&R in this condition since
>it's
> > > just been sitting in my basement, well protected.
> > > Dave
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Original poster: "Godfrey Loudner by way of Terry Fritz
> > > <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ggreen-at-gwtc-dot-net>
> > >
> > > Hi Dave
> > >
> > > I had a similar problem with an old 7.5kVA industrial 120/240/480
> > > transformer. By paralleling the two 120 windings, I could get up to 60
> > amps
> > > at 120 with a 240 feed. This was a great high current supply for playing
> > > around with MOTs. One day the transformer went on a dead internal short
> > and
> > > the breakers tripped. The next day I was very surprised that the
> > transformer
> > > was working, but it shorted again after awhile. I decided to scrap the
> > > transformer for the nice heavy copper wire. After much agony, I finally
> > > freed the winding from the core. Upon removing the top layer of paper, I
> > > could see burn marks between two adjacent turns. I think that heat
> > expansion
> > > would eventually push the two weak spots together, and after cooling off
> > the
> > > weak spots would separate. Maybe something like this is the problem with
> > > your pole pig.
> > >
> > > When I got my pigs from T&R, I was told that they were under guarantee
>for
> > > one year for normal usage. I forgot to ask if tesla coiling was
>considered
> > > normal.
> > >
> > > Godfrey Loudner
> > >
> > > > What is truly a mystery about this thing is that it either works
> > > perfectly,
> > > > or acts like there is a crowbar dead short across the primary.  Well,
>at
> > > this point, I'm tentatively pronouncing Ariel dead. I'm going to
> > > > call T&R to see if they can supply a replacement core so that I can
> > > perform
> > > > transplant surgery.
> > > > Dave H
> > >
> > >
> > >