[TCML] tesla coil blowers

[Jonathan Peakall]

I found with my sucker gap that too much vac actually decreased performance. 
There was a sweet spot somewhere around the 20-30% power mark, as Gary 
describes.

Jonathan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Noggle" <cn at q.com>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla at pupman.com>
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2011 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] tesla coil blowers


> Thanks, Gary--after 20 years of running my coil I never thought of
> that.  Probably make for longer motor life, too, although in that time I
> have only had to replace it once.  Still, I had egg on my face in the
> middle of a show.  A small step-down autotransformer would work well, too.
>
> ---Carl
>
>> Vacuum cleaner motors are well suited to building static gaps, because 
>> with
>> a sucker gap, the airflow can be easily and efficiently channeled through
>> the arcing region.  It's useful to note that only a very small fraction 
>> of
>> the potential airflow of such a motor is actually needed.  With my sucker
>> gap, I used a lamp dimmer module to throttle down the airflow.  Advancing
>> the throttle beyond maybe 20% (WAG) showed NO improvement in spark
>> performance.  Given that full power to the motor is acoustically painful
>> and drew almost as much power as the NST, I was happy to use less power 
>> to
>> the same result.
>>
>> Regards, Gary Lau
>> MA, USA
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 12:44 AM, Carl Noggle<cn at q.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks much for the heads-up.  Seems weird that nobody makes a
>>> squirrel-cage blower that gives as much pressure and volume as a lowly
>>> vacuum cleaner.  I couldn't find one in Grainger.   ---C
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   For those making a sucker or blower gap, Lowe's is selling their $79 
>>> shop
>>>> vac for only $29 tomorrow,
>>>> 11/25/11.
>>>>
>>>> Matt D.
>>>>
>>>>
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