RE: sstc driver enclosure

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>

While a plastic enclosure or sheet may well be HV puncture-proof, don't
forget that the potentiometer shaft & knob poking through, the thing you
tend to hold on to, may not be.  There shouldn't be any kind of switch that
would shut the TSG off, as it MUST always be on as long as power is applied
to the NST.

Gary Lau
MA, USA


Original poster: "Justin Hays by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<pyrotrons2000-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Hi James and All.

Using plastic enclosures for SSTC's can be good and bad in a couple
of ways.

Good reasons for plastic enclosure:

1. Doesn't burn you when you touch it (like, when you turn it off ; )
2. Looks great as you can see the circuit "guts". (I put a blue and
red LED in mine once, it looked way cool).

Main bad reason for plastic:

Doesn't shield the circuit inside from RF. If your coil output gets
back into the electronics (and I don't mean arcing to it!), you'll
have some major problems. Test the design first, to see if it will
operate without having to be inside an enclosure. If it does, a
plastic case will be fine. 

If the circuit DOESNT work outside of a metal box, make or buy a
metal case for it and surround it with plastic (lexan, p-glass,
etc.)......yes, it will make a capacitor out of the thing, but NO
you'll not get burned by it. Because there's no way YOU will
accumulate enough voltage to puncture the plastic and arc to the
metal behind it. I've tested 1/8" plexiglass sheet with a measured
25kVDC and it doesn't puncture. And 25kVDC will arc a couple inches
through air....so you're safe....

Good luck!

Justin Hays
KC5PNP
Email: justin-at-hvguy-dot-com
Website: www.hvguy-dot-com