Re: A newbie question

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

Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
 >
 >  >
 >  >  > 1. In this case, would the #28 wire be adequat for the task or 
should I
 >  >  > look for a thinner? Same question  for the primary's #8 stranded wire.
 >  >
 >  > #28 looks ok. About 1200 turns. Solid wire is easier to keep in place
 >  > in the primary. The most usual is to use copper tubes, but for a small
 >  > coil there is really no need for this, except may be for mechanical
 >  > reasons. Electrically, even #18 wire works perfectly.
 >
 > Start with a pancake primary made bare solid AWG 14 or AWG 12 (house wire
 > with insulation stripped off) supported in slits in cardboard supports until
 > you get your tuning dialed in, then go to solid with a bigger diameter or
 > copper tubing and the fancy supports, or not, if it works well enough.....

	If the primary doesn't get very warm it isn't wasting enough power to
make replacement worthwhile.  At the 500 watt input level I use #10
solid which is available bare for just a few cents a foot; it doesn't
get warm to the touch.

	Of course, big beautiful primaries wound with tubing or ribbon are
impressive objects and probably worth the extra work just for appearance
sake.

Ed