Re: [TCML] Two phenomena...

[Henry Hallam <henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1/30hp is quite small for a motor driving a large disc with 8 flying
electrodes.  Might the motor be on the verge of losing synchronous
lock, perhaps when the mains voltage droops due to the current drawn
by the rest of the system?

Henry

On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 9:18 PM, Joe Mastroianni <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Item #2, and perhaps weirder.
>
> At about 120V on the Variac the spark production is quite nice.  No flashover on the primary - BUT
>
> I started to notice a long-period (like 2-5 seconds) oscillation in the sparks - diminishing and increasing.  It seemed to me like some kind of weird timing synchronization issue, and indeed, it does "go away" when I adjust the Freau phase shifter - but then I get other problems.  It seems when I'm in  the "sweet spot" for timing, I get this slow oscillation.
>
> Now, I was thinking as well it could have something to do with the environs.  I'm running the coil in the garage and the sparks are ending up everywhere - like the wood studs, the aluminum garage door, the tracks, etc.   And when it arcs to something grounded, the arcs are brighter, and I can feel the current draw in the variac.  But this effect seems to be different from the long period oscillation.
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