Re: 1st Tesla Coil LIGHTED YAY!

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

Original poster: "Nightmare" <nightmare-at-bak.rr-dot-com> 

Hey, this is ravi, i grounded my secondary to foil sheets under the base and
i get ~3in streamers from the top bolt and like 5 inchers to a grounded rod.
Any suggestions on making em bigger? i have already tuned it.

Ravi
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: 1st Tesla Coil WONT LIGHT HELP PLEASE!


 > 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
 >
 >
 >