SSTC update

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

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

Well, ive been tinkering around and now ive got a working 556 staccato 
incorporated coil. A few bugs to work out before I give it full power.

Some things I notice:
Im using a 2 resistor type adjustable duty cycle config.The coil seems to 
resonate with R1 being 9KOHMs and R2 being 3.3KOHMs.The capacitor is a 
ceramic disk 470pF.I dont know its frequency.If someone has a calc that wil 
use capacitor values below  .005uF, will you calc this for me?Then i can see 
what my coil really resonates at.This is with NO topload.This brings me to my 
second problem(or not?).

My coil DOESNT like top capacitance for some reason.Why?I add small amounts 
and then retune and get poor output.

My MOSFETs seem to have stopped their overvoltage deaths(Still no snubbers 
except i have a .047uF Ceramic cap across the drain and source).It gets real 
hot when i give it a lil juice.I had solved this with a MOV until it burnt 
up:-( WHY?
Anything else will help it?I had read about that on a site that deals with an 
IGNITION coil circuit.Thats why i have a .047uF cap across the MOSFET.

Another observation:
CMOS 556's from Texas Instruments SUCK!They pop like IMMEDIATELY!Maxim 556 
survive ok.Im now using Normal Fairchild 556's.They do great.

I have also a totem pole 557 and 547 transistor pair on the output.Its doing 
good too.Before i couldnt get more than 8 volts and then it died.Now i upped 
my supply to a 17volt 1.6amp adapter.It works now.

I want to put an enclosure around this circuit.Will a box covered in AL foil 
do the trick?Where do I ground this box?

Sometimes this coil detunes.How can i stop this self-detuning?

Sorry for all Qs but Im almost done!YEA!Im getting much better output!

Matt