Re: 1st Tesla Coil WONT LIGHT HELP PLEASE!

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "Nightmare" <nightmare-at-bak.rr-dot-com>
 >
 > NOO, i dunno whats wrong, i emptiesd the caps, refilled them with salt
 > water,and a layer of motor oil, wrapped in foil, put in foiled pan, and when
 > i fired the coil, the gap fired, and there was also a REALLY REALLY BRIGHT
 > AND LOUD spark on one of the terminals of the caps, then after a second it
 > stopped getting loud and the spark on the caps just stayed there, i
 > unplugged it. This happened twice, can someone tell me what the -at-!#$ just
 > happened? how do i fix it, i still only got 1 inch spark max when i touched
 > a rod to the topload, otherwise no spark! Please help

Where did you see the bright spark, exactly? This sounds as a
capacitor being punctured. Where is this spark in the cap that
just stayed there? Looks as a discharge through the hole
blown by the first loud spark. Look at the bottles carefully
and see if they are not punctured, probably just at the edge
of the aluminum foil that you wrapped around the bottle.

Capacitors made with PET bottles will not work, as many pointed out.
As the capacitors charge and discharge rapidly at RF frequencies, some
corona unavoidably appears at the edges of the plates, as here:
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/567c2.jpg
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/mres6c2.jpg
The corona heats the plates, and thin PET plates melt. Even PVC (the
first cap above) melts.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz