Re: [TCML] party cup capacitors

[jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Thank you Joe. 

On my long list of things to do (its been on the my list for2 years) , is to make a video detailing how I make my caps. Since they seem to work so well (for me at least). I might as well share the knowledge. I think the last one I made was within 3% of what i calculated it to be and the primary coil was tapped about 1/8 of a turn from where I predicted. Which is my opinion is pretty stinckin good for being home made. =) 


Another thing that i have tried was to make a dowel jig thing and interweave aluminum foil in a zig zap pattern for a air gaped capacitor. it worked but was a complete pain to construct and thus not worth every doing again. but in being a pain to build it did only cost about 10 bucks (if you know where to buy really cheap dowel) but really easy to adjust to suit your capacitor needs. 

Thanks, 
John "Jay" Howson IV 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: johnbrooks@xxxxxxxxxxx 
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 3, 2010 12:47:11 PM 
Subject: Re: [TCML] party cup capacitors 

I viewed your album a couple of times. 
Very good work sir. 
Joe in Texas 

On Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:24 +0000, jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: 
> I swear by my home made poly rolled capacitors. 
> 6mil polyethylene, a lot of aluminum foil, flashing, electrical tape is 
> the way to go in my book. 
> I over engineered then to withstand 50kv and as such have never had one 
> fail. 
> 
> I bought a roll of the poly at lowes a few years back when they where 
> having a going out of business sale....I am still using the same roll to 
> make my caps. one of the tricks that i found was to tap each plate on 
> every turn of the roll..to minimize inductance. 
> 
> and if you do it wrong you have only lost a couple of hours and maybe 
> 10-15 bucks depending on how big you are making it. 
> 
> my first 2 caps each cap is rated for.1uf. the one on the left was the 
> first try..it still works like a champ to this day. 
> http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/JHowson/mad%20science/?action=view&current=Closeup.jpg 
> 
> i really don't remember what this one was rated for. You can sort of see 
> the PVC pipe in this one. the cap is under mineral oil and sealed via 
> lexan and lots and lots and lots of epoxy. 
> http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/JHowson/mad%20science/?action=view&current=DSC06578.jpg 
> 
> Thanks, 
> John "Jay" Howson IV 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "david baehr" <dfb25@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 2, 2010 10:02:37 PM 
> Subject: RE: [TCML] party cup capacitors 
> 
> 
> ...here I go again, 
> 
> My Rolled ( TCBOR caps ) worked well through the years,....if carefully 
> done, they hold up well,...but that was back in the early 1990's,....I 
> would do MMC's now , but my rolled caps are still in service :-) 
> 
> 
> 
> > From: jpeakall@xxxxxxxxxxxx 
> > To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx 
> > Subject: Re: [TCML] party cup capacitors 
> > Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 15:45:47 -0700 
> > 
> > For my money, the only DIY caps worth building are salt water caps. Lossy 
> > and heavy yes, but can be quite tough and cheap. All of my efforts in other 
> > types, rolled, plate, etc never lasted and always left a mess to clean up. 
> > The SW caps you can dump and recycle. 
> > 
> > Jonathan 
> > _______________________________________________ 
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> _______________________________________________ 
> Tesla mailing list 
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> 
-- 

johnbrooks@xxxxxxxxxxx 

-- 
http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and 
love email again 

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