RE: Help with my rotary gap (and other tuning problems).....

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau@xxxxxx>

Hi Adam:

You mentioned that you used a Variac to adjust the power input, but it
sounds like you expected the same Variac to adjust the SRSG phase.  When
using the Freau SRSG phase controller, a separate, small Variac is used
in series with the RSG motor, and it is wired as a simple variable,
2-terminal inductor, not a variable transformer.  The Variac used to
adjust input power to the NST is an entirely separate device, wired in
the conventional 3-terminal Variac way.

To check the operation of my phase controller, I taped a very small
magnet on the motor shaft, and held a pickup coil near it, hooked to a
scope set to LINE triggering.  Varying the phase control Variac should
make the induced waveform on the pickup coil shift horizontally.

You don't need a safety gap on the motor (there should be no high
voltage beyond the mains voltage there), but a safety gap in parallel
with the RSG terminals is mandatory.

 As to the racing arcs - it doesn't look from your photo that the
coupling is grossly too high, but you should still try lowering it.
What size is your NST and cap?  If your cap is too small, it may be
charging to a too-high voltage and giving bigger bangs than your
secondary can stand.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

> Original poster: "Adam R." <arabraxas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
> I just finished testing my rotory gap, similar to the simple low
inertia
> ones seen on Terry Blake's Website. However, it didn't work very
well...my
> alternate (static) gap kept firing and the spark length achieved
wasn't
> impressive (I admit, the tuning wasn't the best)...
>
> But my main question lies in the phasing. I have a 47uF cap across the
> motor and a variac to adjust the power imput. I tested this under a
strobe
> light and the dark bands (ie the phase) didn't seem to change much. It
the
> electronic adjuster working and I am not noticing it? I don't want to
mount
> the motor and find that the phasing is WAY off!
>
> Also, do I need a safety gap literally ON the motor? I have a Terry
Filter
> in line with the coil (which has two spark gaps to the ground), would
that
> suffice? or do I need a whole new gap just for the motor? (it doesn't
seem
> like it)...just by looking at the math of it, it seems I need to get
the
> phasing right on!
>
> One more thing, I tried out my new dual layer primary and it doesn't
seem
> to be working very well. There appear to be many arcs racing to and
fro on
> the secondary. What causes all this activity on the secondary? Could
it be
> the geometry of the design? Here's a picture ...
>
<http://img282.imageshack.us/img282/158/10016792mp.jpg>http://img282.ima
gesh
> ack.us/img282/158/10016792mp.jpg
>
> Thanks for any suggestions!
>