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Re: Beer Gaps
In a message dated 96-05-13 01:26:51 EDT, you write:
>
>Hi everyone,
> After adding a few radials to my present rather ropey RF
>ground, I finally fired the Aspect 1.8 coil I've been working on last
>night. Nothing too stunning at this stage - measured about 2 1/2 feet
>from a 12kV 60mA transformer (better to come). The reason for that
>last bit is that the gaps were sputtering and firing irregularly and
>generally a pain. It is obvious I'm going to have to build a decent
>cylindrical gap with blower for low power, high voltage supplies. The
>simple tungsten carbide gaps I've been using work well for low voltage
>supplies but are pretty hopeless for higher voltages. Then having made
>up my mind, I cast an eye round the garage, looked at a pile of cans
>in the rubbish tin, and had an idea. Has any body tried using beer
>cans in a cylindrical gap? Benefits : large radius of curvature,
>recessed ends, and just think of the fun of preparing new electrodes
>while watching the old ones do their job! (I also thought about
>using unopened cans ( great heatsinking up to a point) but decided
>that the contents would be rather unpalatable after a 5 minute run
>(assuming the cans weren't prematurely opened).
>
>Malcolm
Malcom,
I built two of the cylindrical gaps early on in my project. They work great
with neon sign transformers and I still use one in series with my rotary for
the pole pig.
Ed Sonderman