Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Hi Antonio,I understand your comment regarding the reason for a baffle to appear unnecessary. But there are two reasons which in my mind stand out in favor of a baffle a few inches below the top and somewhere near the bottom (I don't believe the bottom baffle position is critical, but someone else may have reasoning for relative positioning).
1. Highest stress for an internal arc is likely just under the topload shielding for a well tuned coil. Should there be a path via internal "tracking", the baffle would act as a creepage disc and would likely prevent a track from ever beginning.
2. The baffles if siliconed in place will seal the internal form from environmental influence. Thus, high humidity external to the form would take quite some time to acclimate the internal area of the form between the baffles. So, there is a some rigidity to the internal environment which helps prevent internal tracking.
In the event that the coil is running out of tune, highest stress may occur further down the coil where the baffles would have no influence.
Take care, Bart Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmdq@xxxxxxxxxx> Tesla list wrote:Original poster: "Rich" <rdjmgmt@xxxxxxxxxx>Do I still need the baffles about 5 "inside the tube and should they be vented in the center?Baffles don't have a clear reason to be necessary. A spark would burn trough most glues quite easily. Be careful with this 100 W bulb inside the form. PVC deforms easily with heat. Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz