Re: Tracking inside secondary former

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>

In a message dated 1/15/01 6:16:23 PM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

<< "Matt Skidmore by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" 
<fox-at-woozle-dot-org>
 
 Well ive seen many people run with no "plugs" in the ends. my take is you
 should put the plug just inside the tube before the windings end on each
 side. others also prefer a thrid in the middle although i dont see how you
 get them that far in.  >>

Hi Fox,
I have three spacers installed in my 12" Sonotube secondary tube. They are
cut out of a poly cutting board. They also have a 2" dia. hole thru the center
to pass the 1 3/4" electrical PVC conduit which also supports the toroid at
the top. I simply cut each spacer disc to where it was slightly smaller than
the inside dia. of the Sonotube. They fit fairly snug, but can be slid up and 
down inside the tube. Finally, I siliconed the disc spacers to the PVC con-
duit. This makes it easy to remove the toroid with the PVC conduit and the
spacer disc in one piece for maint. or transport. As a result, the secondary
coil is only 38" long, but I consistantly obtain 8 to 10 ft. sparks  with 
occa-
sional hits near 11 ft point-to-point, and I haven't had any internal 
flashover
or carbon tracking problems to date (been operational for over a year now).

David Rieben