Hi Bart,
Thanks for the info. BTW, 1" copper pipe is the largest that
I can find in my local Home Depot or Lowe's. Did you have to go to an
actual old-fashioned hardware store to find the
1 1/2" copper pipe? I know that larger diameter copper pipe
can be obtained at a plumbinng supply but you mentioned getting yours
at a hardware store. I still have about a 6 ft. length of 1" copper
pipe and I hate the idea of having to buy more larger idameter copper
pipe at its current price$.
(A 10 ft . length of the 1" stuff at my local Lowe's is now
~$46!).
Also, what size of toroid would you recommend for my pro-
posed coil? I was thinking around 6 x 24 or possibly even
8 x 30 (inches). Looks like it's getting close to time to get
another TCML toroid bulk buy ;^)
David
----- Original Message ----- From: "bartb" <bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: Re[TCML] NST rebuild good
Hi David,
Your undersized in caps for SRSG LTR operation (you would need 4 of
those caps). But they are large enough and can be configured for
.08uF which would get you into LTR for the static gap. So you won't
have to worry about running STR on the PT. I'm not sure on the
current rating of the PT, but I expect it's 200mA to 300mA output in
which case the resonant value is .037uF to .05uF. So probably a good
idea to parallel the two caps.
The static gap is of course easier and less expensive. The main
consideration is high air flow and large surface area for the
electrodes. Static gaps work great as long as they don't get hot. Of
the various static gaps I've tried out, most were marginally
acceptable. Oh they worked, but they did get hot and were difficult
to control the temperature. This directly affects spark length. In
this RQ arrangement and with using large diameter tubes, the cooling
was no problem. This is that same static gap that I've run for those
long continuous runs with.
The fan uses a 120Vac motor. I run a separate 120V line to the fan
(because I use a variac for the NST input). I'm not sure of the CFM
but this squirrel cage type fan pulls a good deal of air through the
gap. The way I epoxied the pvc to the fan just made it simple and
ensured all the air pulled was through the gap itself. You might
consider a little longer tube length with the PT like about 4". I
think the tubes I'm using are 2.5" lengths. It's certainly easy
enough to build and try out. It's nice not having to do anything
special except to turn on the coil. BTW, even though I have the
ability to easily clean the electrodes, I never have. They've ran
like that ever since.
The idea of inserting the electrode assembly into the pvc housing was
just stumbled upon (just happened to fit). I was looking for a method
to compare electrodes back when I was trying out the brass stock with
minimum effort. As soon as I realized this piece fit in that piece
nice and snug, the solution was then obvious.
Here's a schematic of that coil.
http://www.classictesla.com/photos/ba45/sch45.pdf
Take care,
Bart