Re: Big Insulator

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: DRIEBEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Hi Adam,

I have noticed the same thing when trying
to get into one of those types of insulators.
It does indeed smell like pure burning sulfur
and the fumes are indeed rather noxious. I ne-
ver really thought of sulfur as being an insu-
lator although I'm sure it would NOT be a good
conductor. Also, I never thought to keep the
heat going to remove all of the sulfur and in
turn free up the end caps and allow them to
simply fall out. I'm sure this would be much
simpler than trying to cut or drill the end
caps as they appear to be made of a very hard
metal and clean cutting of porcelain is beyond
the cutting skills of a typical home shop hobbiest.
Conversely, I do wonder if blowtorch heating of
the insulator could cause the porcelain outer
jacket to crack, though?

David Rieben

----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, April 16, 2006 11:48 am
Subject: Big Insulator
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx

> Original poster: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> I have a 6" diameter by 10" tall insulator that I
> decided to clean up, for use on my coil. I tried
> cutting the metal ends off with a dremel cutoff disk.
> After a short while, what I thought was some sort of
> glue, began to burn a familiar blue. Sure enough, it
> had a strong sulfur smell to it. So I took it outside
> and heated up the metal cap with a torch, and watched
> the "lava" ooze out. Does anyone know if this is pure
> sulfur, or some mixture? I'll probably heat the other
> end with a heat gun, which may avoid some of the
> noxious fumes generated.
>
> For anyone wanting to remove insulator endcaps,
> heating is WAY easier than grinding or cutting. Just
> watch the fumes.
>
> Adam
>
>