RE: Static Gap question.

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

Original poster: "Luke" <Bluu-at-cox-dot-net> 

That raises another question.
1mm is about 0.039"
Can anyone tell me how big of a difference 0.039" would make in the fine
tuning of the spark gap?

Lets say a spark gap could be adjusted exactly to the distance where the
peak voltage of the supply is what it took to break down the gap.  This
would be using the total peak voltage available.

I used JavaTC for the numbers in this example.
A 15KV NST peak voltage would be about 21210V.
If 1" copper pipes were used.....

A gap spacing of 0.296" would give a breakdown voltage of about 21198V.
Close to the total peak voltage is what it would take to break down the
gap.

Now if you were to decrease the distance on the gap by 0.039

0.296" - 0.039" (smaller gap now) would be 0.257"
The voltage required to break down the gap is now about 19188V
This is about 2KV lower.

How much of a difference would be seen in output?
Would it be noticeable?
Yes I know that any decrease will effect the system negatively.  But
what amount of decrease would make the output difference noticeable?

I know this would be too much to calculate etc.  But has anyone made any
observations or tests etc. that might shed some light on this question?

If one were using a gap with 0.039" increments and set the gap to the
best output, a gap that is 0.01" larger might give noticeably better
output but jumping to the next 0.039" gap is too large.  Would it be
advantages to build a gap that has some sort of finer adjustment to it
than 0.039" increments?

Thanx

Luke Galyan
Bluu-at-cox-dot-net

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 3:38 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Static Gap question.

Original poster: "Philip Brinkman" <peeceebee-at-mindspring-dot-com>

Luke:
     A simple method for multi segment copper pipe gaps is to glue the
pipes
in place with 2 part epoxy DON'T waste your time drilling holes and
bolting
the pipes in place, you can space the pipes using pennies (1mm thick).
If
you have a hair dryer, you have a good high velocity air stream. Simple
as
pie.  Gap can be seen at   http://home.mindspring-dot-com/~peeceebee/
   Good luck!
Phil Brinkman