[TCML] Climbing Arcs

[Ken Willison]

I never built a really large one. I have however observed that any air
movement across the ladder will disrupt the arc. Conducted some experiments
tilting the electrodes from vertical it would not work beyond 30 degrees.
The curve of the arc remained vertical while the electrodes were tilted. I
surmised that heat causes the arc to rise and heat raises vertically so
won't work when it passes about 30 degrees.
Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces at pupman.com [mailto:tesla-bounces at pupman.com] On Behalf
Of Sfxneon at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12:10 AM
To: tesla at pupman.com
Subject: [TCML] Climbing Arcs

Hi All,
 
I have a spare 12.5 kVA/20 kV bombarding transformer and sliding choke  with

which I'm building a large Jacob's ladder using 3/4" x 10' EMT conduit. It  
works reasonably well, but the arc tends to rise up the rails too slowly and
the 
 middle of the arc outruns the ends, resulting in a restart before it
reaches 
the  top. I've adjusted the angle of the rails from near parallel to about 
18" apart  at the top, without much success.
 
Does anyone know how to tweak the performance of a big climbing arc so that

it will climb to the top of the rails more often? I'm guessing that
increasing 
 the air convection around the arc would help it to climb, so will
inclosing 
it in a tall clear tube or box make a difference? Does the material  that
the 
rails are made of have any effect? How about the ballasting  of the 
transformer, as far as inductive or resistive, etc? 
 
Thanks,
 
Tony Greer
 
 
 
 
 



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