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Re: [TCML] Capacitor calculator?

I spent 18 months experimenting with Leyden jars made of various metals, plastics, and glass. My preferred model--so far, I am still researching--uses a Crystal Light powdered lemonade canister. It's a straight sided cylinder 67 mm tall (about 6 and 5/8ths inches). The canisters are made of fairly thin polypropylene. An empty, sealed, inverted aluminum soda can will not quite fit in the canister; you have to warm the plastic with a hair dryer before you can push the can in. (You also have to make a small hole in the bottom of the canister to let the air out. This hole you later plug with silicone caulk). With the can fully in, there's room for a layer of wax or paraffin on top to suppress corona. Aluminum HVAC tape makes the outside coating. Early on I settled on this as the best choice. Household foil is too fragile.
I tried all sorts of metallic items to serve as the interior surface of a Leyden jar: BB shot, copper pan scrubber pads, ball bearings, lead musket balls, aluminum gutter flashing, regular household foil, powdered metal applied over a glue coating, etc. All of these worked, but some were better than others. The best combination of light weight, sturdiness, and capacitance came from using soda cans.
Best of all, it's cheap. My kids drink the lemonade, I drink the soda, and I can build an excellent Leyden battery out of the leftovers! 

regards,

Paul
----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Kline" <daniel_kline@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 8:59 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Capacitor calculator?



Very nice! What do you use other than peroxide bottles?

Dan K.

PAUL THOMPSON wrote:

Hi Brian,
I use a Leyden jar battery with my coils. The way I do it, I make a sample single jar and test its capacitance with a handheld meter. I make few more and test them to make sure I'm getting consistent results. For example, I make a dry jar using polypropylene canisters and aluminum soda cans that always clocks in at 450 to 500 pF. By linking a bunch of these in parallel I get the capacitance I want. See http://www.instructables.com/id/Soda_Can_Leyden_Jar/
I don't make salt water jars. Liquids are heavy and messy, and I worry about glass breakage. I've never had one of my homemade Leyden jars break, melt, or arc over. Based on spark length when charged with my Wimshurst machine, I estimate the voltage rating of my jars at 100 KV. 

Regards,

Paul Thompson


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