Re: Secondary catastrophe

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

Original poster: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com 

In a message dated 10/6/04 7:55:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

It is easy to splice so I would do that.  You do want to have enough
secondary turns on the secondary.  To make the splice, file the
wire at an angle using a jeweler's file.  Rest the wire on a piece of
wood while filing it.  File it only one one side.  Don't remove any
insulation except where filing.  Make the angle about 1/4" long or
so.  Make the wire into a wedge shape at the end in other words.
Then file the end of the extension piece of wire the same way.
When the two wedges are placed together, the wire will be of
normal thickness (not doubled).  The wedge parts overlap some.
Then solder the joint carefully.  If done correctly it will give a very
good splice.  Practice using scrap pieces of wire.  Perhaps
practice on thicker wires to perfect the technique.   A shorter
secondary will not make a tremendous difference in performance,
but a little taller as in the original plan is better.  By the way
PVC is not really very lossy in coil use, and won't affect the
results.

My TT-42 coil which uses the same transformer gives 42" sparks
and can be seen at:

<http://hometown.aol-dot-com/futuret/page3.html>http://hometown.aol-dot-com/futuret/page3.html

Actually I used a robust 12/30 NST.  A typical one gives 38" sparks.
Click on the link for spark gap coils.

Cheers,
John Freau