Medium coil considerations

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Original poster: "MIKE HARDY" <MHARDY@xxxxxxxxxx>

Hi all! First let me say, thanks to everyone on the list. I've been
monitoring this sight for over 10 months, gathering information, and learning
as much as possible while lerking in the shadows. I found about it from Dr.
R back in late october when I bought a pig, 18" fiberglass coil form, and a
34 X 8.5 inch toroid. I am working on a big coil. I succesfully built a 4"
coil that gives me about 40" sparks with a 15/60 NST.
I sent this same intro a while back in the middle of another thread. 
My name is Mike
and as can probably be seen I live in Wisconsin. For that matter I 
would like to
meet/ corespond with other Wi coilers. Maybe at the comming Cheeshead 
Teslathon,
if not before.
I think before i fully dive into the giant coil, I should build a 
medium coil and start
playing with 3 - 5 KW. I plan on winding 20 awg wire for 30 to 32 
inches on an exact
6 inch o.d acrylic form.
First question;    Am I better of winding for 32 inches with a H:W 
ratio of 5.3:1 and
957 turns    -or-
for 30 inches with a H:D of 5:1 , and 897 turns.
Here I figure the greater the distance from toroid to primary the 
better, but is keeping
under 5 preferable?
Second question;   I bought the 'half toroid' from Norman F. Stanley. see
'half toroid for sale' in july archives for pics. Anyway it is a 24' 
spun toroid. It is not a
conventional toroid, that is O-----O as a cross section, but rather (_____)
with an 18 inch hole in the top. I was wondering if simply tig welding an 18"
plate in the hole (properly smoothed etc.) would be adaquet for 
controling the field,
and preventing breakout of my top turns. Or should I try to find a 
concave aluminum
dish to weld in the hole, so the toroid fits down, and 'hugs' the top 
of the secondary.
Again much thanks to a fantastic group of folks!