Re: Differences between "bad" streamers and "good" streamers

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

Original poster: "Mark Broker by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <mbroker-at-thegeekgroup-dot-org>

I would put my money on the spark gap.  Typically speaking, single gaps 
without quenching don't perform too well.  Adding an air blast ought to 
help - a lot.  I remember experimenting with air blasts with a pair of 
spark gaps on our Project Mercury coil.  We used two gaps and two air 
sources.  The first was a two-gap gap using a leaf blower at close range, 
the second using a centrifugal furnace blower about 12 inches from a multi- 
gap (about 8 gaps).  There was a MARKED improvement in streamer length and 
quality with the air flow in both cases.

A good triggered gap - either rotary or triggered static - will also be a 
good improvement.

Good luck,

Mark Broker
Chief Engineer, The Geek Group

On Tue, 08 Apr 2003 18:10:44 -0600, Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:

>Original poster: "Zagarus Rashkae by way of Terry Fritz 
><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <arbitrarily_random-at-yahoo-dot-com>
>
>Hi All,
>
>I have recently built a Tesla coil and fired it up. At
>best, it produced thin, wimpy, purple 36 inch
>streamers at first light Specs can be found at
>http://www.hot-streamer-dot-com/lulabs/Tesla.html
>The power input is maybe 1.5-2.5 kW. I haven't
>measured it yet.
>Spark images are at
>http://www.hot-streamer-dot-com/lulabs/images/sparks/
>I don't know what is causing these sparks to be so
>thin and purple. I have also noticed that sparks don't
>break out easily without a breakout point. Is it
>because I haven't tuned the coil right? Is it the
>toroid? Is it the ground? Is it the capacitor? Input
>power? Please help.
>
>_
>