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Re: Al duct vs Chicken Wire
Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi Justin. I've wanted to do the same many times.
I think a chicken wire toroid is perfectly fine and certainly
advantageous in the dollar and weight categories. Kevin's big coil in
Oklahoma uses such a topload. Another excellent coil using such a
toroid is the Warthog built by Bert Pool, Wild Bill Emery, and Max
Hempel. The Warthog is a 15kva coil (19" x 57" using 14 awg). The
chicken wire toroid is 22" minor diameter by 72" outer diameter.
The Warthog!
http://www.classictesla.com/temp/warthog-5.jpg
It is true that a smooth toroid "can" be adjusted to single streamer.
It's a matter of power input, break rate, and terminal sizing. A coil
can be adjusted to the point where a single streamer dominates
breakout, and when done right, will actually move along the toroid.
I've had single streamers issue and move nearly half way around the
terminal on my Lundgren Toroid which is 9" x 30" (this is best
accomplished with a variable breakrate RSG). With that said, I don't
really see a longer spark length due to a dominant streamer.
As long as top terminals are constructed to prevent bumps or size
variations in the minor diameter, they are fine. Sometimes Al flex
toroids are not constructed well by coilers, especially at the end
connecting joint. If this has a bump, it is just like adding a
breakout point to the toroid. The corrugation is not really that big
of deal, especially at higher power. At low power, you will get many
short streamers (all toploads). The same is true for chicken wire
construction. The Warthog toroid is well constructed using Styrofoam discs.
I say go for it.
Take care,
Bart
Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: Just Justin <rocketfuel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I'll probably build a chicken wire toroid anyway,
but I wanted to ask for opinions on the performance
of a chicken wire-based topload vs Aluminum ducting.
I currently have a 4" inner diameter Al duct as my
topload and I get about streamers breaking out of
about 5-6 places simultaneously. Is is true that
with a perfectly smooth toroid there tends to be
one large streamer instead of many smaller ones?
Thanks!
Justin in Austin