Thanks guys for the suggestions so far.
The electrodes are not copper but 3/8" dia. steel round bar with tungsten
carbide silver solder on one end so four pairs of flat round flats face
each other. These steel rounds are mounted in aluminum blocks and are
adjustable. It could be over time corrosion has developed over time between
the steel and aluminum. I will disassemble and inspect this weekend.
The caps that make up the MMC are new. They checked out OK individually and
as a unit. Is it probable that a number of these caps could break down
under load?
Thanks again and I'm open to any ideas.
Tim Flood
On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 3:22 PM, W5als <w5als@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Tim
> This my opinion but I think the cap's are breaking down under load. I
> know they test
> Good but that doesn't mean they are. Just my thoughts.
> Alton
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Mar 13, 2014, at 1:54 PM, Tim Flood <tfloodrr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > My old reliable coil's streamer length was gradually diminishing from
> white
> > long sparks to shorter purple sparks and finally purple sparks for about
> > ten seconds then no sparks. Additionally, racing arcs were beginning to
> > occur.
> >
> > The MMC value checked out, all connections checked out, I cleaned and
> > re-connected the dedicated RF ground, etc.
> >
> > The old design utilized two paralleled 9/60 NST, 3" dia. sec. and a
> 3"x12"
> > toroid with a spark gap consisting of four fixed gaps in series.
> >
> > I suspected the transformers so I replaced these with the only other one
> I
> > had, a 15/30 NST. I ran the new transformer, required capacitance of
> .008uf
> > along with the existing secondary, spark gap and top load through JAVATC.
> > Modifications were then made per the JAVA.
> >
> > The first light of the modified coil only produced a weak purple spark
> with
> > a break-out point. Tuning only served to create racing arcs, with no
> > improvement in performance.
> >
> > Now I suspect the secondary. So, I rewound and varnished the secondary.
> > Same dismal performance as before. Now I'm about ready to loose it, to
> the
> > point I'm explaining this all to my wife.
> >
> > The only thing I didn't touch was the spark gap and gap spacing. It was
> set
> > for .030" for each of the four gaps and I made no adjustment when I
> > switched transformers.
> >
> > Sorry for the long post, but I would really appreciate any ideas.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Tim Flood
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