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Re: Ross-O's 1st Run - secondary arcing
In a message dated 2/8/99 8:09:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:
> --BIG Snip--
> Once you've decreased the coupling, run the system in a dark room, again
> looking for any signs of unwanted corona. If you're still seeing the
> "Christmas tree", you may also want to lower the toroid relative to the
> secondary. For best sheilding, the bottom-most part of the toroid should
> be roughly level with the top of your secondary winding. This should
> have the effect of increasing the e-field between the toroid and
> strikerail, and reducing the electrostatic stress from the top of the
> secondary to the strikerail. This tends to "throw" streamers outward,
> and away from the secondary and strikerail. You've got a relatively
> large toroid, which should be fairly effective at this. Adjusting for
> best performance here is a bit of a balancing act. You may also need to
> do a bit of retuning, since lowering the toroid will also lower your top
> terminal capacitance a bit.
>
> Finally, as you indicate on your website, you may also want to consider
> migrating to a flat primary eventually, since an inverse conical primary
> will not provide adequate clearance between the top of your coil and the
> strikerail at higher power levels. This will ultimately limit the full
> potential (NPI) of your system.
>
> Safe coilin' to you!
>
> -- Bert --
>
Bert - Excellent comments. My 6" coil originally used a 45 degree saucer
shaped
primary. I also had the intense blue Christmas tree effect. You can see a
very
intense field with this set-up. I raised the secondary up to eliminate the
arcing. I also
eventually rebuilt the primary as a flat spiral. Just took all the copper
tubing off, made
new support ribs and retied it in place - a mere afternoon's work. I also
operate with two
toroids with one above the other and now have very little problem with
downward stirkes.
Ed Sonderman