Re: FIRST LIGHT

["Al Hassick" <uncadoc-at-juno-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Ted!  Your coil sounds great!  When you fire it up for longer runs let
me know how your caps hold out and for how long a period of sustained run
they can handle. I would like to try them if you are successful!  Thanks,
Al.

On Tue, 05 Sep 2000 11:47:43 -0600 "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
writes:
> Original poster: "Ted Rosenberg" <Ted.Rosenberg-at-radioshack-dot-com> 
> 
> Hello everyone.
> It gives me great pleasure to announce that after some 11 months, 
> many hours
> of research, reading, asking questions, getting answers (and good 
> ones too)
> that I am announcing that I achieved First Light at 8:30 PM, Sept 3.
> 
> With the help of two friends, we carried the 50 plus pound cabinet 
> (2 foot
> sq by 1 foot high on casters) into my back yard and assembled the 
> 6x24
> Plexiglas secondary (it screws into the top of cabinet), the primary
> platform (sitting on 2x4s to adjust the coupling height) and the 6 
> inch
> diameter, 22 inch OD, compressed aluminum toroid.
> 
> Then I connected an AWG 4 cable to a anchor which is in an older, 
> not used
> satellite dish concrete pier for my RF Ground.
> 
> I checked all the components one more time then brought up the 
> Variac
> slowly. At 90 volts I got one measly 6 inch snap. A ground rod 
> target was
> unavailable. In Northern Texas we have set record after record this 
> year. We
> have gone 65 days without rain. The ground is so hard and so dry 
> that my
> water bill would top out at $100 if I had to soak the ground. Only 
> Mother
> Nature can do that and she isn't ready to! And yesterday we hit 
> 111-112
> degrees. Almost as hot as those sparks!
> 
> So, the next step was to force break out. I placed a 3-foot right 
> angle
> aluminum extrusion across the toroid. When I hit 90-100 volts, the 
> streamers
> started. At 110-120 volts I had a huge group of 18-24 inch writhing,
> serpent-like tongues of electricity and a gorgeous blue corona 
> around the
> entire area.
> 
> At 120 volts, I was getting some streamers past 24 inches. I used 
> the width
> of the toroid for comparison, as by now it was pitch black. I did 
> take
> photos and they will be posted in another day or two. I will provide 
> the URL
> info later on.
> 
> The primary tap still needs to be tweaked. The primary platform is 
> at the
> plane of the secondary winding start. The specs follow:
> 
> POWER: Allanson 15KV, 60mA NST
> SAFETY GAP: Standard Fritz MOV Array (thank you Terry!)
> TANK CAPACITOR: EMMC using 5 perf boards. Each board has 20 Seacor
> .047mf/1600V metal polys in series with 10Mohm bleeder resistors 
> across
> each. All perf boards in parallel to provide a total of .0117mF at 
> 32KV
> SPARK GAP: My own new design that I call the TTL, Ted's Totally 
> Linear gap.
> I will have many close up photos later on but for now...it is 
> comprised of
> nine 1.75 inch diameter by 2.25 inch long copper sweat couplings. 
> Each has a
> 1/2x1/2x5 inch aluminum U channel bolted to it. They sit, side by 
> side by
> side on top of an 18" long ceramic tile ledge with the U channel 
> over the
> ledge, pointing downwards. Once you insert 2 business cards or 3 
> playing
> cards between each tube and move each to take up the gap slack, you 
> then
> start to clamp a strip of wood down tightly on the U channel 
> "handles" to
> lock your gap setting using 10 1/4-20 machine screws in-between each 
> U
> channel.
> After running the coil for several minutes, all tubes were only luke 
> warm!
> No fans required.
> 
> PRIMARY: 16 Turns, 1/4 Refridgerator tubing with 1/4 spacing. 
> Threaded into
> 6 HDPE supports (took 4 hours). ID is 8 inches. OD is 24 inches. 
> Current TAP
> is at turn 13.0
> 
> SECONDARY: 6 inch diameter x 30 tall Plexiglas with about 24 inches 
> of #22
> AWG enamel and lots of Polyurethane to seal. Special connectors top 
> and
> bottom to allow fast RFG connection and toroid connection.
> 
> TOROID: 8 Foot (started) alumininum compressed duct, 6-inches in 
> diameter.
> 22-inches OD, 9-inches ID. Two steel pie plates bottom to bottom 
> with spot
> JB Welds to secure the edges.
> 
> FUSE: Front panel mounted 15A fast blow Edison base fuse
> EMI FILTER: 37A Corcom EMI filer wired backwards
> 
> CABINET: rectangle box on casters made of 1/2 birch ply. Sealed and 
> painted
> sky blue. 2 foot square by 1 foot high. Back, ventilated access 
> door. Front
> padlock modified RV AC interlock panel to prevent stupid people from
> applying power. Brass interface plumbing to allow quick connection 
> of the
> #4AWG RFG cable.
> 
> WEIGHT: about 60 pounds
> HOURS TO CONSTRUCT: About 630 (including reading everything on the 
> list and
> printing out dozens of e-mails)
> COST TO BUILD (all new parts...zero scrounging) $600 estimated
> WEIGHT LOST BY BUILDER IN TEXAS HEAT: About 5 Pounds
> AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN GARAGE: 105-110 deg.
> 
> I don't know about the rest of you but this is my first and last. I 
> am
> amazed at the goals and I wish all the success I have enjoyed with 
> your
> help. You all have my admiration. Tip of the hat and a 
> toast...coiling
> forever.
> 
> Now...should I write the great step-by-step, fully illustrated 
> Construction
> Guide???? 
> 
> Ted Rosenberg
> Ft Worth TX
> Coiler at Large
> 
> 
>