Re: July 4th and Caps (capacitors that is)

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: July 4th and Caps (capacitors that is)
From: Malcolm Watts <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 12:25:58 +1200

Hi Chip and others,

> Speaking of HDPE pipes, a year or two ago I thought about HDPE for a coil 
> form.  I was thinking of using pyrotechnic mortars because they are 
> cheap, strong, and readily available in sizes from 1.5" to 12".  Now, I 
> believe that they would make an excellent container for these capacitors.
> BTW, I don't believe that they would be useful for forms because they 
> probably are conductive (carbon black in the HDPE), and the HDPE is 
> slippery and hard to bond to.

I have successfully wound and operated a number of coils on this stuff
and used it deliberately for the Q measurements I posted awhile back.
Some of the coils were space-wound and I had to use special 
techniques to remove the spacer wire without disturbing the real 
winding. I think only the black pipe is nogo. The pipe I used was 
yellow and completely non-conductive as far as I could tell.

Malcolm