Hi Adam,
Yes, I am still using the same treadmill motor. Like I had mentioned
previously, I had changed up the 120 volt wiring for the RSG motor
strictly for an asthetic upgrade, but had left the electrical layot iden-
tical, EXCEPT, I had started grounding the exterior metal case of
the FWB brick. That was obviously a big NO-NO, as the FWB
was promptly destroyed as a dead short within seconds of engaging
the spark show from my coil. And since I was trying to fire it for
a small audience of middle school children, I tried to "push" it even
though I could quickly tell something was seriously wrong, when it
initially happened. As a matter of fact, I ended up actually catching
the 10 amp, 120 volt rated RSG control variac on fire! Thankfully,
those 35 or 50 amp, 1 kV rated FWBs bricks are relatively cheap
and readily available on eBay, because I ended up smoking a couple
of more before finally figuring out the grounding issue. Also, thankful-
ly, I had a spare 10 amp, 120/140 volt rated variac that was just
about identical to the flamed one, including an identical mounting foot
print, so no messing up my control panel face with additional holes :^)
Lesson learned: NEVER make any modifications to your known
working coil and then try to display it in action for civilian observers
without giving her a SPARKING "test drive", as the FWB and mo-
tor would run fine all day with NO sparks after my modification!
David
From: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 4:21 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] I think I fixed it ;^)
Good to hear. Are you using the treadmill motor discussed a while back?
________________________________
From: David Rieben <drieben@xxxxxxx>
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 10:30 PM
Subject: [TCML] I think I fixed it ;^)
Hi all,
For those of you who remember my "help please" thread, about my Green
Monster Tesla coil suddenly seeming to have developed an appetite for the
FWB rectifier for the ARSG motor, I think I have fixed the problem (keeping
my fingers crossed). I tried mounting the FWB "brick" on a flat piece of cop-
per for heat sinking WITHOUT grounding the external metal case of the brick.
I also installed an extra corcom line filter upstream of the FWB and in-
stalled a 20 amp button circuit breaker upstream of the RSG control
variac, so as to not engulf it in flames in case of another FWB going
dead short. I wheeled her out tonight and I ran her for a good minute
or so without a hitch (it was smoking the FWB rectifiers within seconds
before making the "corrections"). I was still a bit "gun shy" to really let
her rock tonight but was able to determine that I had obviously cor-
rected the rectifier eating problem. Thanks for the helpful suggestions to
all who responded to my "plea".
David Rieben
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