I typically use plastic cutting boards as the base, the ones we get at
Wal-Mart are high density polyethylene I believe, and they are tough,
fairly easy to drill, and very non conductive. I use them for all of my
propeller style rotary gaps and for a whole host of other high voltage
purposes. Don't use wood, it will eventually carbon arc and short out,
possibly becoming a safety hazard in the process... As for examples this
is my OLD website, http://www.personal.psu.edu/sdb229/TCsparkgap.html you
will see a modified single bolt design here strapped to a transformer.
There really is a lot of room for experimentation, use your imagination,
see if you can do better than this (shouldn't be hard, this was the worst
spark gap I ever made that barely managed to function, but you can't beat
the simplicity...) As others have said a big surface area of spark gap
electrodes is generally better, but adds to design complexity. The sucker
gap below worked much better, but was big and noisy, the rotary is king,
but is a mechanical marvel in itself. There really is an infinite number
of ways you can do this, try and hatch out your own plans, you'll be more
pleased with the results that way.
Scott Bogard.
On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 4:17 PM, matty mcqueeney <matty_queeney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> wrote:
> Hi Scott,
>
> I have seen the design your on about. This is what i was thinking about
> designing. Have you got any simple examples I could copy from online?.....
> Is their anything from the top of your head you could think of as a non
> conductive component?
>
> Regards Matthew
>
> > Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 10:30:24 -0500
> > From: sdbogard@xxxxxxxxx
> > To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: [TCML] Tesla coil- spark gap
> >
> > Hi Matthew,
> > Sure thing, if you are going for simple, go to the hardware store
> and
> > buy two small "L" brackets and thread bolts through them. Make sure the
> L
> > brackets are secured to something non conductive, and hook your
> transformer
> > up to them, and adjust the gap between the bolts so the gap will just
> > barely NOT fire when you apply power. THEN hook up the tank cap and
> > primary coil. If you want to be fancy (and you do, trust me) hook a
> small
> > fan up so the air blows over your gap, then vary the distance of the fan
> > (hence the relative blowing power) for optimal Tesla coil performance.
> > Obviously this is as primitive as you get, and performance wise you reap
> > what you sow; but if a working prototype is what you want, this is kind
> as
> > far as simplicity and cost effectiveness... I hope this is helpful, be
> > sure to peruse Google images to get additional spark gap design ideas.
> >
> > Scott Bogard.
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 8:46 AM, matty mcqueeney <
> matty_queeney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > Could anybody help me find a reasonable spark gap, that is simple to
> make?
> > > Thanks Matthew.
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
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>
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