Original poster: "Victor Valencia" <victor_valencia2@xxxxxxxxxx>
Hi Everyone,
What a great list. Lot's of interesting topics.
I just finished building my first TC. Here are the
specs:
Transco NST 12Kv, 30mA (marked as 200w)
Spark Gap: copper tube-based, 9 gaps with 20 mils/gap
Tank Capacitor: 77x GE 42L 3kv, (7 strings of 11 caps) (.0066 uF total)
Secondary Coil - 3.25" diameter, 801 turns 24 awg wire
Top Load: 4.5" diameter aluminum ducting. total dia = 15"
It worked the first time although it did not create sparks
that were very long. The most I got was about 12". Should
I be getting more??
I tried tuning it by first adjusting the primary coil
tap point between 10 and 12 turns and then varied
the spark gap by varying the total gap 140 mils total
to 180 mils. Nothing seemed to get it any better than
the 12". In most cases it made it worse.
I don't have a scope to tune it. I was thinking that maybe
I should try increasing the spark gap since that would
increase the charge voltage on the tank caps (unless it's
already at the max).
Any suggestions?
I want to make sure I am getting the most out of
this first one before I embark on making a "bigger"
one :)
Victor