Re: rolled cap blowew out

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Original poster: Chris Estes <estescc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

>With just two plates with these dimensions you will be far below the
>nF range. Without calculations, I guess that you will get something
>around 50 pF. To get large capacitance in a small size you need the
>plates as close as possible.
>The cardboard will short-circuit everything and burn immediately...
>
>Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz
>

Well I think I used about 30, or maybe 26 plates to get 6.7 nf and
actually after settling for awhile, I measured again and it's up to
about 7.something. I'm still about a week away from finishing my coil
and actually running it but I figure, the breakdown voltage of oil
soaked paper per mil is greater than just oil alone so if I calculate
the total breakdown voltage for my ~1/4 inch spacing using just
dielectric strength for oil and not oil and paper then the actual
strength will be even greater. And as I said I think its about 50 Kv.
If there is a short It'll be ruined but I think 50 Kv is more than
enough with a proper safety gap to prevent failure. And, yes, Maxwell
could pack many more farads into a much smaller space but this is quick
and cheap and it's still alot easier to lug around than a buch of beer
bottle caps, I'm never building one of those again.