Re: Big Insulator

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>

I spent a while longer with my heat gun, and the
insulator appears to have a 2" diameter hollow
cylinder from one end to the other, completely filled
with sulfur. Melting is slow with my heat gun, so I
may try drilling my way through, then melting the
remainder. However, the sulfur looks pretty hard, so
drilling may not be much better, or even possible. The
torch doesn't seem to hurt the porcelain, as long as I
keep temps close to sulfur's melting point. The heat
gun is nearly as bad at burning the sulfur as the
torch. Once the sulfur gets soft enough to flow, the
combination of heat and forced air causes the sulfur
to start burning. However, only the liquid sulfur
burns, so it's easier to control than with the torch.
I may try using a variac with my heat gun. I tried
burning the sulfur off the outside, which left a
fairly soft ash, making cleanup easier. The outside
surface where the endcap is attached is deliberately
rough, and would be impossible to clean any other way.
I'm harvesting the rest of the sulfur.

Adam

--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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
>  >
>  >
>
>
>