Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
All,
I was planning on using my leaf blower to push air through my
TCBOR/Richard Quick spark gap. Is this too much airflow? I have 8, 1/2
(0.5) inch copper pipes inside a 6" diameter piece of PVC. Also, it looks
like I can get in one more piece of copper pipe for an even 8 spark gaps.
I have been advised to set the total, overall gap to 0.2 inches/8 = 0.025
per gap. Of course with the brass bolts sticking out the side of the PVC,
I can run any number of gaps I want from 1 to 8. I was also advised that
once the spark gap is completed, it is a real BEAR to try to reset the
gaps and in fact that once it is set and running well, that I should
permanently fix the copper pipe electrodes with epoxy to keep them from
migrating and ruining my setup.
I also have a shop vac that I can use to suck air through the spark gap.
The shop vac doesn't move nearly as much air as the leaf blower. I am
using a 15kV 30mA NST. Is this spark gap overkill in the first place or
does this sound like a good plan? BTW, 21 inch x 4 inch secondary with
1100 turns, 14 turn 0.25 inch copper tubing primary flat, and 3.5 inch x
15 inch toroid. Oh yeah, .01 mF primary cap.
Finally, if I use the spark gap with 8 gaps, do I start off using all 8
gaps? Or, do I start with one and work my way up as I tune and adjust the coil?