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Re: [TCML] Tesla coil spark gap dies away AFTER working

I can think of a couple of reasons.

Having forced airflow is a good place to start, to keep the electrodes
cool.

Also, if you're using acorn nuts as electrodes, be aware that most cheap
acorn nuts are just brass-plated zinc.  The brass plating burns away
quickly leaving easily-oxidized (burnt) zinc, and burning electrodes
results in reduced arcing voltage and lower performance.  Ideally you want
the arcing surface of an electrode to not be a single point - like a line
on a copper pipe.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA


On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 6:57 AM, matty mcqueeney <matty_queeney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> I tested my tesla coil yesterday and it worked brilliantly, However after
> a while the sparks started to die away.
> The spark gap I use is similar to the one below
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=static+spark+gap&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB451GB451&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&imgil=NWnKp-waegpo3M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcQ2JuOAoqZ_hysRtikPUS02F5iqJfou3s420mxZljldrdHUHmAs%253B640%253B366%253BALVlAI-_8sEZyM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.teslacoildesign.com%25252Fconstruction.html&source=iu&usg=__ehjc7fNIUcOTpWPuz5o-zTDUOLI%3D&sa=X&ei=spo6U-29Ga3s0gWY9oCwDw&ved=0CDsQ9QEwAw#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=AchLHojuxBwHJM%253A%3BUaN-2DPwohW_nM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Flab.dereklow.co%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252Fteslacoil-31-470x328.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Flab.dereklow.co%252Fspark-gap-tesla-coil%252F%3B470%3B328
> I do not use a fan to cool it down either.
> I was wondering if you knew any reason why the spark gap was dieing away?
> Thanks Matthew.
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