Re: [TCML] keeping primary copper tubing nice and shiny

[Scott Bogard <sdbogard@xxxxxxxxx>]

David is correct, but silver will tarnish significantly slower than
copper, regardless of location, and if the coil is kept under
Plexiglas this should help also.  Polishing the copper or silver with
a wax based polish will extend "shinyness" time, but nothing short of
lacquer (which would be inappropriate for a tap-able primary) will
keep if from turning dark eventually.  I use a homemade polish on all
my metal stuff that is largely turtle wax, with a good amount of
dissolved bees wax and pine sap (dissolved in turpentine.)
http://bogard.110mb.com/polish.html
(once again the page needs updating)
I'm not sure why but this mix will hold a shine on silver for a year
in my house (probably much longer now that we stopped using a coal
stoker...) and can be re-polished to full luster in seconds, sometimes
with just a clean rag, so it should work well for a coil, as it is
also highly water repellent.  Gold plate would be much better but I'd
venture a guess it wouldn't be worth the money (silver looks way
cooler too.)  Gold also tends to plate very thin, and it is often
unrecommended to polish it after plating (unless the professionals do
it with their cyanide based formulas, which work much better than
anything sold to the public as far I can tell.)
     To be honest I think the best way to keep a primary shiny is to
make it easily removable, so one can stick it in a shallow bath of
muriatic acid, and then use an aerosol spray polish for copper on it.
If it is not soldered fast one could design it to be removable, after
all most of our secondaries are removable for transport are they not?
My coil is entirely modular, one needs a socket and screw driver to
disassemble but it isn't so bad.  5 minutes from garage to running in
the yard (unless I need to replace a MOT...)

Scott Bogard.

On 1/16/10, David Rieben <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Adam, all,
>
> Cool-Amp sounds pretty interesting but the fact that
> the plating is silver makes me wonder if you're not
> simply trading one tarnish problem for another. I'm
> sure we've all seen nice, expensive silver ware or
> silver plated kitchen ware get that ugly, old yellowish-
> brown color to it over time if it's not polished on a
> fairly regular basis. It is my understanding that the
> toplayer tarnish that forms on silver is NOT the re-
> sult of oxidation but the reaction of the silver with
> the trace levels of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere.
> That would probably translate to urban or suburban
> locations having a bigger problem with this than iso-
> lated and remote rural areas would. I guess gold
> plating would be more impervious to this problem.
>
> David Rieben
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yurtle Turtle" <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 6:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [TCML] keeping primary copper tubing nice and shiny
>
>
>> Cool-Amp's the easy way. We used it at work on 15 kV bus bars. It ain't
>> cheap, but works like a charm.
>>
>> http://www.cool-amp.com/
>>
>> --- On Fri, 1/15/10, Dex Dexter <dexterlabs@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> From: Dex Dexter <dexterlabs@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Subject: Re: [TCML] keeping primary copper tubing nice and shiny
>>> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Date: Friday, January 15, 2010, 1:22 PM
>>> I'd rather think of silver plating.
>>>
>>> Dex
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thomas Ryckmans wrote:
>>> > Now I *need* to plate my primary with gold. The colour
>>> must be great.
>>> > Frank, I'd love to have your nickel plating recipe. If
>>> anyone has a gold
>>> > plating recipe, I'd be interested as well
>>> >
>>> > Many thanks
>>> >
>>> > Thomas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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