[TCML] First light but something's still not quite right

[Andrew Nettles <anettles@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I got my 6" coil to fire up yesterday and although I was glad it worked the first try, I'm still having a problem.
 
It only ran for a few seconds and then quit.  I had noticed before when messing with the safety gap that the GTO wire still leaked a bit even though it was rated for 15kv and that's what my transformer is rated.  So I made sure there was adequate spacing between those wires and the grounds and then it worked again.....for a few seconds.  The variac & nst test fine.
 
I went to set the safety again and disconnected the tank circuit but didn't disconnect the rest of the filter.  As soon as the safety stopped firing, I'd get a nasty hot arc between the two rows of capacitors in the Terry filter.  So after bonking myself in the head, I isolated the safety gap and set it.  At one setting I would plug it in and it wouldn't fire 3 out of 4 times and then I'd get a big arc - not the two little ones between the gaps.  I backed it out a little more until I could plug it in repeatedly and not get that.
 
So I have the wires separated, safety gap set properly...but it still stopped working.  It seems like the hv is getting shorted to ground but I can't see what I've done wrong.  Could it be a problem with the terry filter?  The two rows of caps are separated by about 1-1/2 inches of space....I'm wondering if that's adequate or if that's the problem.   I've ground every solder joint down so there's no sharp edges.
 
My rotary gap seems to be set close enough to work, but I can't get the coil to run long enough to tune the tap or play with the motor phase.
 
I'd be grateful for some input.  And BTW thank you to all the people on this list who helped me when I needed it - I'm just about there.
 
- Andrew Nettles, Fort Worth_______________________________________________
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