I changed the subject to primary coils from primary voltage.Okay, let me clarify. I stupidly followed some advice to make the primary supports solid with holes drilled in them and to slowly work the tubing through the supports, sliding them on, one after the other and then moving them along the tube, threading it through the rest of the holes as I went along.
After struggling with this debacle for many hours of frustration and ever hardening tubing, I decided to disassemble it and cut the supports lengthwise just above the midpoint of the holes. Then, I did like you said and laid the tubing over the tops of the supports, snapped them in, and then put the upper portion back on top and clamped them down with cable ties. Of course, my tubing looked like crud by that time. I even still have this primary in the garage. I'm too embarrassed to try to sell it.
This doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the solid supports do but it sure is easier. Also, I haven't found a really good way to attach the upper part of the supports. How do you guys attach the upper portions? I was considering buying nylon screws and drilling holes down through the top and threading the bottom part and screwing down the tops. I think that 10-32 screws would be small enough to have enough room to drill the holes between the turns of tubing. I have some 1/4" nylon screws or rather bolts but they are too large and I am worried about drilling the holes between turns because it won't leave much plastic on the sides of the holes.
Someone mentioned that the uninsulated 6AWG type copper wire at Lowe's and Home Depot comes wound on those hexagonal shaped spools that leaves the wire somewhat kinked, instead of perfectly curved. When I saw what they were going to do with the wire at Lowe's, I nixed that and went and purchased my wire at a local electrical supply wholesaler. They provide it in 50' and 100' rolls in boxes and it is wound just like the copper tubing at Lowe's. This way, I just do like you said with the tubing and lay it on top of the supports and it nearly falls into place.
With the wire supplied this way, I have found it extremely simple to work with and it is definitely easier than the tubing, for me. One way I have used this type of wire is to use Lucite or Plexiglas and starting at the center, I anchor the wire with hot glue and then lay it out the way I want it, with spacers keeping the separation correct, and hot glue it down every 5 or 6 inches. This is a super simple, easy way to make a primary coil. In fact, I am getting ready to do this for the new low voltage TC I am building with the 6kV 50mA transformer I recently purchased for $20. That is my $1.10 worth. The ten cents worth has suffered badly from inflation.
Paul Think Positive----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Schmuke" <rdj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Tesla Coil Mailing List'" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 11:32 PM Subject: RE: [TCML] primary voltage
Subject: Re: [TCML] primary voltage When I made mine , I laid out the supports and then put the roll of tubing in top of them, I started to snap the tubing in place in the center and worked my way out, I put a C clamp with padding on the inter most part to hold it in place. It was very easy to do and the copper is soft at first try. Just IMHO. Rich This is the second time I have seen this comment about how hard it is to work with solid copper wire versus 1/4" copper tubing. I have worked with both quite a bit and IMHO, I have to disagree completely.I have found that the tubing is stiffer than the solid wire and quickly workhardens as it is bent and gets harder and harder to manipulate, until it sometimes becomes necessary to anneal it in order to continue working with it. The solid wire is much easier to work with. Now, I will say that I amcomparing 6AWG and 8AWG solid copper wire to 1/4" copper tubing and the wireis considerably thinner, too. Paul Think Positive----- Original Message ----- 00_______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxhttp://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
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