Re: Bi-Polar Design

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


I looked at your pictures and you have a rather cumbersome design for 
the arms.  The toroids I'm using have 1/4" holes drilled radially 
into the inner flat part of the toroid.  To fashion the arms I'm 
simply going to take some excess copper tubing and bolt them through 
these holes.  I'll attach some kind of brass knob to the dischrage 
ends of the arm.


I'd be worried about stretching the arms too much beyond the length 
of the secondary for fear of the sparks arcing to the primary or 
surface arcing along the secondary.

-Patrick


On Fri May 26 19:39 , 'Tesla list' <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> sent:

Original poster: "Ralph Zekelman" <gridleak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Patrick and Dr. Nicholson,

I will be interested in hearing about the developing bi-polar. There are
several photos of my bi-polar coils at
<parse.pl?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fhot-streamer.htm>http://hot-streamer.com/temp/RalphsCoil/
The coils shown have all been capable of a spark equal to the length of the
secondary except for the giant 48-inch coil which had serious problems of
not being able to support the weight of the "rabbit ear" arms.

I experimented with various arrangements to bring the arms up at
a right angle to the long axis of the secondary. This is probably the
usual method. I also tried various mechanical arrangements to bring
the arms out some distance parallel to the long axis of the secondary before
curving them towards the center. I could never overcome the weight problem.

How are you planning to design the arms? Where will you mount
the 3 x 14 toroids?

Finally, I have what may be the winning entry in the stupid question contest:
As the voltage across the ends of the secondary must increase as the arm
spacing increases, is it ever possible to get a spark longer than the length
of the secondary? Is this just a matter of insulation design or will the spark
always arc the shorter distance directly across the secondary (probably
arcing to the nearest primary turn.)

Ralph