Re: Bad Ideas

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

Original poster: "robert & june heidlebaugh by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <rheidlebaugh-at-desertgate-dot-com>

Chris: A steel rod is better than no rod. a septic drain is better than a
clean well, both are good. The best ground I ever had was the abandoned
centeral heating steam pipes of a dead mining town. When I started on TC
coils there was no advice to be found no place to get councel. My first
capacitor was old salvaged window pain with aluminum off-set press sheets as
plates, it worked well. I now use aluminum flashing rolled with 14 layers of
4mill poly in mineral oil. That works better than my bank of series and
parallel 0.25u/ 2KV commercial capacitors as it delivers more current. It is
much larger so I use both, one to give power, and the other is portable with
no oil mess. I have used double sided mill-spec printed circuit board
capacitors with good results as long as the voltage is 10kv or less and you
strip a 1 inch border around the outside of all edges. ( 18" x 40" sheets)
   Ive made different spark gaps. I like 1/4 inck tungsten arc rods, but they
are costly. My work horse spark gap is made of 3" cut pieces of 1/2" copper
pipe mounted inside of a 3" PVC pipe using a hack saw blade as a spacer
gauge. It is mounted vertical to provide good air flow . I use it A- sync
and triggered mode with good results. I adjust the spacing by selecting
which mounting screw I connect my wires to changing how many pieces of pipe
my arc must jump. Each pipe has a large surface area to conduct lots of
current and radiat lots of heat.
    Robert  H
-- 


 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 06:20:07 -0600
 > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 > Subject: Bad Ideas
 > Resent-From: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 > Resent-Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 06:22:26 -0600
 >
 > Original poster: "C.T. by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>"
 > <ct451-at-yahoo-dot-com>
 >
 > hi
 >
 > I've recently finished my first coil and  decided to have a look on the net
 > at what other people are creating. I came across this list and thought the
 > coil gurus might save me some time (not that it's not fun to blow things up)
 >
 > I've had my share of failures, mainly because I had no guidance and because
 > I live in the middle on nowhere and try to use what i can get my hands on.
 > I'm using a 4000v 20ma neon transformer (apparently using 4 110/220
 > transformers in series is a bad idea) and 4 3300pf/10kv soviet made
 > capacitors with unknown dielectric (home made ones didn't work - very bad
 > smell). Two pieces of pipe for the gap. My creation stands 2 feet tall with
 > guts and all. 5-6" sparks come out. Cost under $15.
 >
 > Here's what I'm trying to change on my set up and need some input:
 >
 > 1) replace the two aluminum trays on top of the secondary coil with and
 > inflated inner tire tube painted with heat resistant aluminum paint. Will
 > this work?
 >
 > 2) I came across some capacitors that are marked 4kv 0.1uf for AC use made
 > in the USSR. I think the dielectric is paper. They are 3"x2"x6" and they
 > look that they can take some serious punishment for only $2 each. Any
 > experience with similar types?
 >
 > 3) is it ok to use a capacitor with much higher capacitance without
 > changing anything else on my coil? I figure the capacitor would just charge
 > up 1/3 (or some other fraction) of the charge (probably faster if the power
 > supply can keep up) before the static gap fires so there won't be a problem.
 >
 > 4) can i use a regular 1.5" carbon-steel pipe for a ground rod instead of
 > copper? I have a bunch of those laying around.
 >
 > 5) how about just dropping a piece of metal tied to some wire into a 100'
 > deep well (with some water in it - probably leaking in there from the
 > sewage tanks) or even the sewage tank?
 >
 > I'll save my homemade capacitor ideas for another time.
 >
 > thanks,
 >
 > Chris
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >