Re: [TCML] party cup capacitors

[Michael Baumann <baumann@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I figure my home-built plate caps came darn close. 
30mil poly sheeting (5 layers of 6mil)  between the aluminum foil plates, sandwiched between 3/8" polycarb plates and 
compressed by bolts at the corners.
 Each "cap" consisted of a polycarb box with 3 of these units in series in  Diala-X. 
After assembly, I connected a 4KV NST  to each while pulling a strong vacuum. This vibrated the plates
assisting the vacuum in removing trapped air.

 3 of them in parallel have been running my 6" coil with a 14KV pig for close to 8 years without failure.
(granted, I only bring the coil out a few times a year now, but I've never had a failure. )

I keep telling myself I need to build a MMC to replace them just for space/weight considerations - but they work well.
(I'd guess the 3 caps take about just  0.5 M^2 floor space, and combined weight at around 18Kg, most of that is the case.)

On Nov 2, 2010, at 3:08 PM, David Rieben wrote:

> Hi Steve, Brandon,
> 
> Yeah, I remember when the late Marc Metlicka came
> up with this idea back in 2000. I was a pretty new comer
> to the TCML back then myself. Although I haven't person-
> ally tried building and using this particular type of "homemade"
> capacitor myself, I seem to recall others giving this idea some
> pretty good ratings. Of course, there's no way that you are
> going to be able to build a capacitor as solid and durable
> in this manner as a commercial pulse capacitor, but it defi-
> nitely can be made to work with reasonable success for
> a small SG Telsa coil system if you are operating on a "shoe
> string" budget.
> 
> David Rieben
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brandon Garretson" <garretsontech@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 7:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [TCML] party cup capacitors
> 
> 
> This idea has been around for a decade and this is the first Im hearing of it?
> 
> http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/energy21/cupcap.htm
> 
> I must have gone through about 90% of the archives on this forum over
> the past two years and I have never had the urge to try to build a
> homemade cap until now.
> 
> Has anyone proven that these arent worth the effort?
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 11:14 PM, Steve Vance <steve_vance@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Has anyone here had any luck using a party cup capacitor like this on a tesla coil? I made one a few years ago but I never got around to trying it out. It looks like a decent idea to me but I figure since it hasn't caught on I may be missing something.
>> 
>> Steve
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>> 
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Michael Baumann
baumann@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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