Re: spark gap noise suppression

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Gomez Addams <gomezaddams@xxxxxxxxx>


On Jan 27, 2007, at 10:13 PM, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Todd Reeve" <todd.reeve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Has anyone ever tried to make things a little quieter when running
> your coil?
>
> I was looking at the muffler on my central vacuum unit and it has a
> muffler that quiets the unit by about 50%.  Borrowing from that
> idea, I was thinking about building a box lined with some type of
> foam with openings on each end.  Any thoughts?

The second incarnation of my first big rotary gap that I built, back
in the late 1980's, was built into a 3/4" plywood box to cut down on
A) noise and B) UV exposure.   Here's a picture of the housing:

http://www.speakeasy.org/~gomez/owlhouse//images/mad_sci/ 
bigTC1_gap_enclosure.jpg

The elbows provided air intake to cool the stationary electrodes and
the motor, but prevented UV light from reaching people's eyes.  Air
was exhausted out the top with the muffin fan.

Once I got that coil working well, the brush discharges were plenty
noisy, but it was still better with the gap inside a box.  :)

 - Bill "Gomez" Lemieux