RE: Metal Screws and Salt Water Caps

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

Original poster: "Chris Roberts by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <quezacotl_14000000000000-at-yahoo-dot-com>


Gary,

How badly did the NST affect performance? Our NST is located really close 
underneath the primary and we have been getting sub-par sparks from it. 
(9kv, 120ma, only 20" sparks) Serves me right I guess for trying to make 
the coil compact and good looking =).



  Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz "

There is no reason not to use metal screws unless they're so close to the
primary that they may cause a short between turns. Very large metal
objects are more problematic. A large metal-encased NST will contribute to
losses if it is closer than 6"-9" below a large primary coil (I did this
test with a 20" diameter primary, not sure how a mini coil-class primary
would behave).

Bleeder resistors are commonly used on MMC caps because shorting the end
terminals won't guarantee that individual caps are discharged. Since a SW
cap is not a series array, shorting the terminals WILL discharge the
cap. However, situations may arise where a charge could be left on a SW
cap (i.e. if the primary tap is loose), and SW caps are not that lossy that
the charge wil! l bleed off by itself. A series array of resistors would be
a wise addition.

Gary Lau
MA, USA

 >Original poster: "Centauri by way of Terry Fritz "

 >
 >Hello everyone,
 >
 >I'm assembling the base into which I will place all the components of my
 >coil, and I was wondering if I need to avoid using metal screws, bolts,
 >etc.. in certain places? Specifically, is it alright to use metal screws to
 >attach the legs. The head of the screw would be directly below the primary
 >coil with a separation of approx. 1". Is this acceptable? Also, what other
 >places should metal be avoided?
 >
 >Second, do I need resistor(s) across the terminals of my salt water bottle
 >cap or is it too lossy to matter? If I do, could I just wire a number of
 >small resistors in series?
 >
 >Thanks,
 >Alan



-Chris

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all 
of them yourself."-unknown