I've been a welder for years, and can tell you first hand zinc poisoning
sucks like the flu, but in quantities found in coatings it is not acutely
toxic. Really the same can be said for nickel and (gasp!) hexavalent
chromium. Chronic exposure is what gets you.
If you want to worry about acutely toxic fumes emanating from your spark
gap worry about NO2. That turns into HNO3 in your lungs and this can cause
serious permanent damage from acute exposure. O3 is no joke either, though
it is mostly coming from the corona discharge. Industrial manufacture of
HNO3 has been very successfully carried out by actually combining NO2 and
O3, since O3 is a super powerful oxidizer.
Bottom line is that you need good ventilation, regardless of what kind of
electrodes you are using. None of the stuff will kill you in relatively
small doses but you really don't want to suffer from the chronic effects of
inhaling any of your Tesla coil's byproducts for extended periods.
Good luck and have fun,
- Jason
On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 9:06 AM, jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx
<jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Greg,
> I would stay away from the galvanized rod if I were you.
> If you vaporize the zinc coating and happen to breath it, its just as bad
> or worse as the stainless. Zinc poisioning can kill you infact.
> Or so they said in my tig welding class last year.
> Since I presume a hospital trip is not on your agenda.
> I would recomend either tungsten or brass.
> I sell tungsten of any diameter and cut it too for reasonable prices. (I
> know a guy)
> Contact off list if your interested.
>
> Cheers,
> John "Jay" Howson IV
>
> Sent from a tiny phone with a tiny keyboard.
>
>
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