Re: Design Review Volunteers Needed - VTTC Staccato Controller Circuit

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

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

In a message dated 3/4/03 2:58:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

>Original poster: "Mike Veldman by way of Terry Fritz 
><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <vmike-at-email.ceat.okstate.edu>



Mike,

This design is basically a staccato controller design that I've been 
building and
using for a number of years on my staccato coils.  The board has also
been built and used successfully by others.  I simply built the board
on a prototyping board, or hardwired one when I needed one.  I based
my design on a design by Dave Sharpe which he had developed
and tested in PSpice, but he hasn't built one as far as I know.  Dave used a
556 timer, but I used the 555 timer and changed some values as needed.
I also added the zero-crossing circuit which I got from John Tebbs'
triggered spark gap controller.  Dave's design was in turn based on
my original TTL based staccato board that I built about 13 years ago.
I used the term "staccato" for the pulsed mode because of the
unique "rat-tat-tat" sound of the coil, and the flashing visual effect it
creates.

Some of my staccato coils can be seen at my website at:

   http://hometown.aol-dot-com/futuret/page3.html

Dan added an extra transistor for a more robust output option, and
added some test points, etc.  I had been hoping for a number of years
that someone would make up a PC board to make it more convenient
for folks to experiment with the staccato feature on their tube coils.
Dan's efforts will be a boon to prospective staccato tube coilers.

John Freau


>Your circuit looks electrically functional, I did'nt see any glaring
>mistakes.  Now my question is, have you prototyped the circuit?  Pardon my
>being an old engineer, but I fail to understand going from circuit diagram
>to board without a working model in my hand.  Simulation software is not a
>sure thing.
>mike
>