Re: Why I need (or thought I did) copper hardware . . .

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

Original poster: "john cooper" <tesla-at-tesla-coil-dot-com> 

I use brass bolts only on my mmc's although they're probably not processing 
as much power as yours are.  I did observe a friends coil that was hooked 
up with aluminum bolts and nuts, sparks were flying from them, spraying may 
be a better description, maybe 2 or 3 inches, looked kind of cool but the 
losses had to be significant.
John



---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date:  Sun, 04 Jul 2004 11:03:08 -0600

 >Original poster: "Eastern Voltage Research Corporation" 
<dhmccauley-at-easternvoltageresearch-dot-com>
 >
 >Thanks for all the responses.  I probably should have explained why I need
 >(or thought I needed) the copper hardware to begin with.
 >I've made a few MMC enclosures using PVC Type I material and on each side of
 >the enclosure (which is vented now for cooling) I had
 >a standard 1/4-20 steel bolt for an electrical connection.
 >
 >This was to be used for the ISSTC II coil i recently finished and found that
 >these steel bolts are getting so hot that they are actually melting the
 >PVC material.  They are RED HOT!   I have eliminated induction type heating
 >with them, so resistive losses is the only other culprit here.
 >
 >Using a better bolt would hopefully solve this problem (copper, brass,
 >aluminum ? ? ?)
 >
 >Thanks
 >Dan
 >
 >
 >