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Re: [TCML] A new guy with a primary threaded through holes
Oh I see now, that looks a lot easier than threading all that tubing one scooch at a time
Thanks for clarifying for me!
Thanks,
John "Jay" Howson IV
----- Original Message -----
From: "bunnikillr" <bunnikillr@xxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 5:34:35 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [TCML] A new guy with a primary threaded through holes
Hey John...
look at the last picture on this the page listed below.... notice how
the plastic does not totally encase the primary tube
http://members.cox.net/bunnikillr/primcoil.htm
Scot D
jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>LOL, I have made that mistake before. =0
>
>I don't fully understand this L's and C's business. Are there any closeup pictures or napkin diagrams that could help me out?
>
>Thanks,
>John "Jay" Howson IV
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "THOMAS RYCKMANS" <thomas.ryckmans@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 1:02:26 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>Subject: Re: [TCML] A new guy with a primary threaded through holes
>
>You have to redo all, it is wound the wrong way round!
>
>No, seriously, it's not. Great job you did, I tried this way a long time
>ago, found threading very difficult (after drilling of course...). So I just
>removed a slice from my "L"s to transform the holes into "C" s. Forming the
>copper was finished in the matter off miuntes after that
>
>Thomas
>
>On 18 May 2010 02:55, Joe Mastroianni <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
>>My primary coil - http://gallery.me.com/iceowl
>>
>>It is with no small degree of chagrin that I note Greg Leyh will not be
>>appearing at this week's Cal. Maker Faire. Were it not for his
>>demonstrations last year I would not be reading this list now, and typing
>>with raw fingers after threading 42' of 1/4" copper tubing through 96
>>stanchion holes. I am in process of creating my first coil thanks to Greg
>>and his small 20' purple arcs that spanned a big chunk of the show floor.
>>
>>Alas, even the wife was so taken by Greg's display that she consented to my
>>coiling. Even encouraged me. Is even helping. Four hands winding the
>>copped through the holes worked better than two. This is how it starts, I
>>guess.
>>
>>Ebay luck shone down upon me a few months ago and I scored 15/30 NPT. I
>>promptly built a jacob's ladder, and just as promptly grew bored with it.
>>Consequently I have been amassing parts to build my first coil. The
>>garage is beginning to fill with those white/red/blue Priority Mail boxes.
>>I can barely get the car in. After a trip to TAP plastics and an evening
>>throwing numbers into JAVATC I decided to start building. Now there is no
>>room for the car at all.
>>
>>Previously, I had bought an 18 page paper written by a guy who went through
>>the mechanical structure of a static spark gap coil, and he advocated using
>>plastic cutting board material for the stanchions, and using 4. Four
>>seemed to offer less structural integrity than 6, and 6 (or 8) looked
>>better. I decided that it would be very difficult to thread the copper
>>around 8 stanchions placed 45 degrees apart because of friction and also,
>>the 1/2" polycarbonate would force the copper to follow a straight line
>>through its 1/2" length, which I felt might necessitate lots of bending. So
>>6. I decided on 6.
>>
>>I built 6 stanchions to hold the primary by cutting "L" shaped pieces from
>>1/2" polycarbonate/Lexan I got from the Tap plastics cast off bin. With my
>>drill press I built a jig out of wood which allowed me to precisely drill 15
>>holes in the long leg of the "L". I drilled 5/16" holes and stepped them
>>inward by a couple 32nds on each subsequent stanchion to account for the
>>spiral winding. There is no engineering involved in my decision to drill
>>5/16" holes other than I knew I wanted a hole bigger than the O.D. of the
>>1/4" tubing and the only bit for drilling plastic they had at Tap plastics
>>that was bigger than 1/4" and smaller than 1/2" was 5/16". Turned out to
>>be fortuitous.
>>
>>That evening I subscribed to pupman.com - which I had not previously
>>subscribed to because, well, no pictures. What a massive mistake. I
>>learned at about 2AM on Saturday morning that it would be impossible to
>>thread the copper through the 1/2" polycarbonate. Several had tried and
>>failed, as evident from their exasperated postings on this auspicious site.
>>
>>But I had already made my investment in time and $$. So my choices were to
>>toss out what I had done and go the
>>LDPE-with-"C"-shaped-notches-instead-of-holes route, or beaver on mindlessly
>>as if I had never read the posts.
>>
>>The next morning acrylic cement I glued the stanchions to a lexan circle I
>>also got at Tap. When you use that acrylic cement it bonds pretty
>>completely. It's as if the plastic becomes one piece. This was also
>>fortuitous.
>>
>>At 2AM on Sunday morning I discovered some posts on pupman that described
>>some intrepid soul, some years ago, who actually accomplished what I was
>>about to try. Somewhat cryptically he said, "it's possible and I just did
>>it and it wasn't so hard". Though he did not describe his technique much
>>other than to mention the term "scootching".
>>
>>I have learned what "scootching" is. But just to be safe, and to allow for
>>extra play, I beveled (countersunk?) each of the holes about 1/8" with a
>>fine stone bit on a dremel. I figured this would make it easier to thread
>>the copper as it came in to each hole at an angle.
>>
>>When daylight broke I began threading the copper. Even though my stanchions
>>have more holes, I had decided to thread 13 clockwise turns. The 50'
>>section of copper I got came in a coil. I laid this coil over the
>>stanchions in the winding sense I desired and began threading the tubing
>>using the natural curve of the copper to follow the curve of the hole
>>pattern on my stanchions. The first 2 turns went swimmingly, and I wondered
>>what all the fuss was about. I put two hands on the tubing, forcing it
>>through the holes gently, turning it as if it was some sort of valve. I
>>could push the copper through the holes about 1/2" with each grunt. The
>>next 4 turns were a bit harder. And in fact, by the time the 4th turn was
>>through, I could only move the copper about 1/8" or maybe only a couple
>>millimeters with each effort of the hand. This took me about 90 minutes.
>>
>>With a cup of coffee in hand I took a rest break, read more pupman, and
>>discovered someone suggested using Windex as a lubricant.
>>
>>I will say it would have been completely impossible to thread the copper
>>through the holes without some form of lubricant. By the 5th turn the
>>friction was so great the coil could not be passed through the stanchions at
>>all. Slathering on windex - I suddenly had the ability to "scootch" the
>>coil clockwise about 1/16" with each twist. It didn't get much better than
>>this. In fact, it got worse. As I reached the inner turns of the coil, I
>>was squirting Windex into each hole pretty much with each turn of the coil.
>>By the time I got through the 10th turn, the coil was only rotating 1 or 2
>>millimeters with each "scootch". I had to manually twist each turn of the
>>coil individually, sometimes starting from the inside, sometimes from the
>>outside.
>>
>>I believe I have put six hours into the coiling of the copper. It was not
>>easy. The results seem to be aesthetically pleasing, and of course, it's
>>very structurally rigid, especially since the windex has all evaporated now.
>>
>>With regards,
>>
>>Joe
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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