Re: Cleaning variac surfaces?

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>
 >
 > Hi All,
 >
 > I have a few never used but older varaics with some tarnish on the bare
 > wire winding surfaces that the brush rides on.  I was just wondering what
 > the best thing to do there is.  ScotchBrite, 400 grit wet/dry , Pink Pearl
 > eraser, leave it as is...?  Nothing bad, just a light spotty black tarnish.
 >
 > Cheers,
 >
 >         Terry

	Both ScotchBrite and wet or dry (I use #600 myself, along with a bit of
spit) work just fine and give you a nice pink surface.  As far as I was
ever able to tell, with a normal variac the improvement was strictly
cosmetic.  If the brush doesn't get hot the contact is fine.

	I've repaired a couple of variacs with a burned spot by unwinding the
wire to where it is undamaged and then carefully filling the gap with
new wire.  After that I filed it flat and followed up with wet or dry.
Not very beautiful but work perfectly well.

Ed