Re: [TCML] Tungsten Carbide Rods for Spark Gap

[Brandon Garretson <garretsontech@xxxxxxxxx>]

If you ever do need to cut your own rods you can use a Dremel with a
thin diamond disk, cuts like butter.
A quality disk will run about 15usd but its worth every penny.
I bought a 12" x .25" piece of MT-185 for my propeller gap (90% Wolfram - 17
on the IACS chart, see here http://www.tungsten.com/alloy.html ).
I made four cuts at ~1 1/4" for the stationary electrodes and had a 7 inch
piece left over for the spinning electrode.
Each cut was made in under a minute.
The cut ends can be dressed on a standard fine grinding wheel then polished
with a Dremel emery impregnated buffing disk.



On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:07 PM, David Rieben <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi JP,
>
> Yes, Tungsten carbide or high strength durable tungsten alloys
> will work for this purpose, although I doubt that their electrical
> conductivity would be quite as good as that of pure tungsten.
> With tungsten carbide, you would definitely want to get it already
> precut to your desired length(s) as this stuff is EXTREMELY hard!
>
> Davdi Rieben
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Paul Gripp" <pupman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 2:58 PM
> Subject: [TCML] Tungsten Carbide Rods for Spark Gap
>
>
>
>  Is there any reason not to use tungsten carbide for a rotary spark gap,
>> rather than pure tungsten electrodes?  The reason I am asking, is that
>> McMaster sells tungsten carbide rods precut to the lengths I would need. I
>> was hoping to save myself from having to cut the rods myself.  I have link
>> to the rods I was talking about below.
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.mcmaster.com/#tungsten-rods/=c5bbfb
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks again!!
>>
>> JP
>>
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>>
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