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Re: [TCML] Re-visited - Newbie question - Where does all the energy go?
Peter,
I had issues similar to what you describe way back in the day when i was just starting out.
Here is an easy test to help you determine if the spark gap is the source of the prooblem.
Take a hunk of 1 or 1.4" pvc pipe and drill a hole at one end such that you can tread a 1/4" bolt threw each side. hence creating a gap between the two bolts within the pipe. use those crimp on connectors to connect it to the tank circuit.
Then tape it to the blowing end of a high velocity source of air, shop vac, electric leaf blower, etc.
You may be able to get it to work with compressed air, but i have never tried. my guess is that you would need to have the air nozzle blowing directly onto the gap.
I like my approach because it can be set up in about 3 minutes
Start with the gap being very small, run your air source a nd see what the coil does.
The improvement that I observed when I tried this vrs my first copper tube gap was astonishing (build differently that yours, mine forced air between the pipes, to aid in quenching, but only had a computer fan as an air source)
Basically it told me that quenching was a very important factor, which was not being met by my previous design.
But others on the list have brought up a good point, have you completely verified that both sides of your transformer are still good?
Thanks,
John "Jay" Howson IV
"Why thank you, I will be happy to take those electrons off your hands."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Sutter" <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 6:11:24 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Re-visited - Newbie question - Where does all the energy go?
Thanks John
Yes, I agree that I have a somewhat working coil. I can tune it, and I get very weak sparks at the 'sweet spot' of about 10 to 15
inches. The sparks are very faint, of a redish rose color, it needs to be really dark to see them. Despite the weakness of the
sparks, there is quite some noise associated with them, much louder than the noise from the spark gap. However I get sparks only if
I have a breakout point on the toroid.
The spark gap is a static gap made of 8 pieces of 1 inch copper pipe, separated by .70 mm for a total gap of approximately 5 mm. The
copper pipes are 70 mm long and are mounted on a u-shaped 5 mm piece of acrylic material. This gives a quadratic cross section of
80x80 mm. At each end I have mounted a 12 V 80x80mm Computer fan, not for quenching but for cooling.
The safety gap is made of three brass balls of which the middle ball is connected to the center tap of the NST. The ap distance is
2.75 mm between each of the balls for a total gap of 5.5 mm. This fires occasionally.
When you talk about a shop vac that can move a lot of air blowing directly across the gap, is it the masses of air I need or would a
jet of compressed air do the same? I have an air compressor available, but not a shop-vac.
I try to make a new spark gap from two 10mm mild steel bolts and maybe incorporate a nozzle for the compressed air and try this out.
Many thanks
Peter
On 05/25/2012 12:31 PM, jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> So, if I understand correctly your problem is that the coil is producing small sparks of about 10 inches, is that right.
>
> It seems that you have a working coil, as you are getting sparks, which you have been able to tune to some maximium length using the primary coil.
> So i don't think it is a tuning issue.
>
> Because you are able to tune it, i think you may have a spark gap issue.
> What is the separation of you gap electrodes?
> You can easily set a static gap, by running the gap directly across the transformers with out any of the tesla coil circuitry.
> You should find the max distance the just the transformers will arc, then make it a little bit smaller just for good measure.
> That should be your optimum spark gap distance.
>
> Also, the air flow across your gap is a very important factor in the coils operation.
>
> if you have a shop vac or something that can move lots of air. try blowing it directly across the gap and running the coil. I would bet that it will show a large improvement spark length wise .
>
>
> Please note, that it is advised that you have a terry filter on the output of your NST's to protect them.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
> John "Jay" Howson IV
>
>
> "Why thank you, I will be happy to take those electrons off your hands."
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Sutter"<peter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List"<tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 9:44:25 PM
> Subject: [TCML] Re-visited - Newbie question - Where does all the energy go?
>
> I refer to my problem as described in http://www.pupman.com/listarchives/2012/Apr/msg00135.html.
>
> I followed the recommendations by various posters,
>
> - I re-built the spark gap, same result.
> - I made various new capacitors, same result.
> - I added a second 12 KV 30 ma NST in parallel, same result.
> - I re-wired all connections with 10 gauge, same result.
>
> The only part left untouched now is the secondary coil. Is it possible that there is a short circuited winding? Would that be
> consistent with the problems I experience?
>
> How would I find the location of the short? I inspected it visually but can't find anything odd. What would I look for? would it get
> warm at the fault after prolonged running?
>
> Thanks for any assistance.
>
> Peter
>
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