[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

New static gap and vacuum motor



I posted the following message last week - and received no responses.  I am 
thinking about going with 8 gaps of .050" each for a total of .400".  I plan 
to mount the gap sections on 7" square pieces of bakelite, cutting about 1/8" 
slots between the gap sections.  Then complete the box so It will be air 
tight and mount the vacuum motor on top of the box over a 4" hole.  There 
will be 5 copper pipe sections on one side of the box and 5 more on the side 
opposite, all connected in series.  I will probably need to use 1.25" dia 
copper pipe to make this fit.  They will be about 5.0" long.  Any comments 
from those who have made these type of gaps?


Steve Date was kind enough to send me a vacuum motor the other day.  I had 
been planning to rebuild one of my RQ cylindrical gaps to use on my 6" coil 
powered by a 14.4 kv pole transformer running at about 7 kva.  The 
modification was planned to seal off the bottom, cut slots in the sides 
between the gaps and install the vacuum motor on the top.  Then I realized I 
only have 6 gaps each about .028" wide for a total gap width of about .170".  
I think this will severely limit the maximum voltage the caps (.05 ufd 
Condenser Products) can charge to and result in much less power in the 
primary than I have been running with my async rotary.  My question for the 
group is - how wide of a gap do you think I can use and not overvoltage my 
C.P. caps rated at 20 kv (in Tesla coil operation).  I found an old 
correspondence from C.P. where they state "the capacitor is designed for 
maximum of 34 kv peak, including safety".  W.I. Mason, the President, 
suggested at the time that I use a maximum of  3/8" to limit the voltage to 
31 kv max.

I would like some suggestions on this.  Should I go with his suggestion and 
design for 3/8" total gap?  Like 6 gaps of .0625"?

Thanks, Ed Sonderman