Re: 1080VA coil pics

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

Original poster: Chris Roberts <quezacotl_14000000000000-at-yahoo-dot-com> 

Sorry for the late reply, just took a while to get the picture and post it.
First of all, Bart, I looked at the other photos I took and saw a spark in 
one more photo:
<http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/P1010046.JPG>http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/P1010046.JPG
And yes, it does seem to come from the same spot possibly meaning a spot is 
losing its insulation. When I was watching the coil, I thought once I saw a 
very quick flash along the secondary, but it was quick enough that I 
dismissed it as a reflection. These were the only pictures that had the 
spark in it, and didn't show up in any of the ones taken after the spark.
I never thought about that bolt before. Good observation. (I didn't notice 
it as a problem, and I have the thing at my house!) That may be the cause 
of some problems. I just gave the secondary a close inspeciton and saw 
nothing visible on the outside where the spark seems to be coming from. On 
the inside, I noticed a thin, dotted line going down the pipe on the side 
with the bolt and the spark, but it didn't go directly behind the problem 
area. This may be caused by sparks but I'm not sure whether or not the low 
current sparks from the coil would leave traces like that.
I may want to try dusting it off also. It's been a while since I ran it 
last, and when I was searching for that spot, I noticed it was kind of 
dusty. That may be providing an easier path to arc to.
Looks like I've got a few things to look into. =D


Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
Original poster: "EMMETT SECREST"

Chris,
I am new to this but would like to point out an observation I made from the
pic. By the way, nice job. I noticed that it appears you have a bolt thru
the top of the secondary form with the secondary winding attached and then
on up to the topload. I wondered if this might be the reason for the arcing
down the side of the secondary. I have read many times that there should be
no penetrations of the secondary form. If this is as it appears would the
bolt not form a breakout point within the secondary? As I said I am new to
coiling and don't mean to come off as a know-it-all. I just hoped that my
observation might help.

Emmett


 >From: "Tesla list"
 >To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 >Subject: Re: 1080VA coil pics
 >Date: Wed, 24 Dec 20! 03 09:59:05 -0700
 >
 >Original poster: Bart Anderson
 >
 >Chris,
 >
 >Very nice photo! The "racing spark" as you termed it doesn't look like a
 >racing spark I'm familiar with. When this occurs, is it always from the
 >same area? Maybe you just captured the start of an event. Not sure. Does
 >it look like this without the camera?
 >
 >Bart
 >
 >Tesla list wrote:
 >
 >>Original poster: Chris Roberts
 >>
 >>Hi everybody,
 >>
 >>I finally got around to taking some photos of my 6" coil. It's taken a
 >>while because this is one of the few times everything is working right,
 >>(If any of you remember, this is the one that killed 2 geek-cap MMCs, had
 >>racing sparks galore, and almost bankrupted me out of coiling >=\ ) and
 >>the fact that I had to finally brave the co! ld and drag the thing out into
 >>the snow.
 >>
 >>This is my favorite picture that I took, because everything is lit right,
 >>and although the racing spark on the secondary is a bad thing, (Noooo! I
 >>thought I fixed that!!!) it at least looks cool. =D The picture is an f
 >>2.8, 5 second exposure while having the coil "painted" with a flashlight.
 >>That way the coil itself is lit, while keeping the background dark for
 >>the sparks to show up. Sparks are about 3 feet long, but the one going
 >>toward the bottom right may be much longer.
 >>
 >>Here's a high-res version:
 >>
 >>http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/1080VAmed.JPG
 >>
 >>
 >>And for all of you in 56K land, a smaller version:
 >>
 >>http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/1080VAsm.jpg
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >>-Chris
 >>
 >>



-Chris