RE: Capacitor Help Needed

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "david baehr" <dfb25@xxxxxxxxxxx>


Yes, the mmc is the way to go , but rolled caps can be used with good 
results if made robust, I made mine around 1992 or so, with ony a 
couple of failures , that, were repaired without too much grief 
,....they are still in use..........




>From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Capacitor Help Needed
>Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:59:40 -0600
>
>Original poster: "Wilson Ng" <metalstorm2002@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>
>  Hello list members.
>
>     I have had bad experience with my capacitors. My first one that
>worked okay with my tesla coil was a jellyroll cap made from plastic
>baggies and metal foil tape. It works well up to about 3 kv. Beyond
>that, there will be smoke and popping sounds. Adding additional
>baggies
>for the dielectric decreased the capacitance dramatically. Later I
>tried MMCs with a string of 30 200v 2uf metalized polyester
>capacitors. It was just
>a test to see if the setup works. After several seconds, I smelled
>smoke even though the test voltage was only 3kv! I've also tried
>foil wrapped bottle caps but it was messy and one bottle cracked.
>UGGHH!
>
>     After sorting a while through the pupman archives, I was unable
>to find anything other than glass bottle caps, MMCs, and homemade
>plate caps. These caps have downsides:
>
>      MMCs                 - expensive
>      bottle caps          - messy and lossy
>      plastic/plate caps  - a pain in the ass to make and not very
>                                 reliable
>      rolled caps           -   not reliable
>      Microwave cap MMC   - possibility of explosion
>
>My question is, is there another way to make a reliable,
>cheap, and effective cap without breaking my bank?
>
>