Re: Correction: It's Me Again

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

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

This is probably a long-shot but here's what happened to grandson and I last 
week. We had just finished revising a 15/60 NST powered coil which required 
removing the secondary and fishing a bolt into the top of it from the bottom 
using s telescoping aluminum rod with a magnet on the end. After lunch and 
reassembly, we ran a test and: NO SPARKS, except at the gap, where they were 
plentiful.  It would light a fluorescent tube from about 5 ft, but no sparks 
off the toroid - not even the "purple hair" as grandson calls it.  Of course, 
I started re-measuring everything. It all checked out except for an 8 kHz 
drop in frequency. I noticed by accident that the bolt holding the toroid was 
highly magnetized. Disassembly revealed the telescoping rod attached to the 
magnet still stuck to the top bolt hanging down inside the tube. We had "left !
a sponge in the patient"!  Removal of the offending rod produced a marked 
improvement in performance of the coil. The numerous pit holes in the removed 
rod form some interesting spiral patterns, but that's for another time.  
Moral (I guess): count your tools and parts and debris before and after, and 
if all else fails, look for the simple answers. 

Matt D.