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makin' progress



   Hey coilers,
     Boy! we're havin' fun now! I got four homemade rolled alum-poly caps
finished and broke in. A 7" dia. 24.5" secondary with #22 heavy duty mag
wire. A temporary pri. of 3\8 soft copper 8.25" i.d. shallow saucer out to
about 2.5' o.d. (spacing in turns varies from 1\4" to 2 or 3 inches cause
it's supported by rope from the ceiling) I said it was temporary :) it's
only got 12 turns but the permanant will have 15 or more. Neon powered 12k
.030ma. I tried the caps in about every config. possible, but seems to be
best sparks with 3 in series and 1 paralleled across them. (no way to
measure caps but built to be .018) Anyway it gets about 12 to 15" sparks
into the air and I can feel it holding a metal stick about 18" away. (no
torroid) With a 10" dia. 1-1/4 plastic alum. wrapped torroid, the sparks to
air are half as long, but there's more of 'em and the strikes to yours truly
with the metal stick are about 10". I'm sure it'd be better with more turns
in the primary, cause they get better and better as I get to the end of the
last turn.
     Today I went down to the United Sign co. where I got the neon, to see
if they had some 9k .060's. They didn't stock them, and they were about $137
each new! After they revived me the guy said maybe they had some used ones
in the "back room". Followed him out to thier shed and they musta had a
thousand of 'em, all sizes and ratings. He dug out some 9 60's and I picked
2 of the better lookin' ones and went inside to talk to the price guy. When
he said $25 each I did a little jig and headed home to hook 'em up. Tried 1
first and it was a BIG improvement (360 watts to 540) Had to use less gaps
for it to fire, but that figures don't it? hooked up # 2 with #1 and fired
it up. 1080 watts I figger! Big mean lookin' forked lightning, 2-2.5' in the
air (but they looked more like 3' to me) Playin with tune and torroids.
                   Boy we're havin' fun now! 
                                 
                                        Ken Cravens