More on Coax Cables for High Voltage, and Connectors (fwd)

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Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 11:37:00 -0700
From: John Doran <johnd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: hvlist@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: More on Coax Cables for High Voltage, and Connectors

I have checked out another power supply in my lab, a Kilovolt
Corporation 0-30 kV variable-output unit, and I found that it employs
RG-8 for its output connection as well.  So, between this and the Del,
we have some significant commercial precedent for using the coax for
high voltage service.

 

I bought my RG-8 from Radio Shack; the stuff had actually been
manufactured by Tandy Wire and Cable.  I felt that the shield coverage
was a bit sub-standard for RF use, but it had the thick solid
polyethylene dielectric (I looked, in the store, before I bought it).

 

The gray PVC (or is it ABS?) pipe that I used for my connector bodies is
the "half-inch" (ID) stuff.  I cut my pipe to about 2.5 inches long, but
you can make them any length appropriate for the applied voltage.

 

I had got the idea for this connector from another design I had seen in
commercial gear, in which a heavy acrylic block had been bored out to
accept the jack and the cable.  In that design, the hole is only a
little larger than the cable.  My pipe is a bit larger than the cable,
but this has caused me no problems-the beveled opening in the banana
jack allows the cable to mate up OK without snagging or hanging up.

 

I see no reason that a mating pipe cap cannot be used at the rear of the
connector, but at the front you want something flat, because it serves
as the mounting flange.

 

-John