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Santa has been weightlifting!



> Date:          Sat, 4 Jan 1997 21:45:47 -0700
> From:          Tesla List <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
> To:            rwstephens-at-headwaters-dot-com
> Subject:       old/ThuJan222:55:26MST1997

> Subscriber: cfbrush-at-interport-dot-net Thu Jan  2 22:51:55 1997
> Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 16:47:44 -0500 (EST)
> From: cfbrush-at-interport-dot-net
> To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Santa has been weightlifting!
> 
> 
> New Year's Greetings Everyone!
> 
> Santa must be working out a lot these days.  I don't know how the heck he
> got it down the chimney without waking us all up, but somehow he brought a
> nice new 225 amp stick welder for Christmas (yup, my family knows me well
> :).   Actually it didn't arrive in time, so on Fri the 27th I drove a
> couple of hours to pick it up at the shipping company that had it.  They
> couldn't deliver until the next Monday, by which time I would have been
> back in NY, and the coil would have been disassembled.  Impatience got the
> better of me!  Anyway, immediately upon getting home I went up to the cold
> & dark tool shed (brrrr...), wired the welder in series with the main
> variac on my 6" coil, removed the old radiant heaters which had provided
> ballast previously, set the welder to its lowest setting, turned on the
> juice and.......yow!!!  The arcs were incredible!  Continuous bright white
> 50++ inchers, limited mostly by the space in the shed.  That big inductor
> sure gives the coil some kick, however performance was a bit erratic.   I'm
> going to add a little resistance next to smooth things out,  and I gather
> this has worked well for others here.  I haven't posted stats on this coil
> since sometime last summer, so here they are for those interested:
> 
> 6" diameter plexiglass form wound to 28" with #22 double formvar wire, 9"
> dryer duct elbow toroid on a pizza pan, resonant frequency around 188kHz,
> 1/4" copper tube primary,  2 surplus FCI 100kV DC .01uF caps in parallel
> for .02uF, 7 cylinderical gaps blown by a leaf blower, 14.4kV 5kVA
> distribution transformer.  No nice carpentry here!  The primary is on top
> of a bunch of milk crates, and extensive use is made of wire ties and PVC
> pipe scraps.  What can I say.....I'm always changing things anyway.
> 
> I have attached a BinHex'd JPEG which I thought you all might all get a
> kick out of since it came out pretty well.  A larger version is also on my
> web site.  You can see the top of the leaf blower under a mesh screen in
> the bottom left of the image.  Yes, that's my custom proprietary, patent
> applied for, Ultra Low-Q InstaGap.  ;)  It actually works pretty well,
> though a rotary gap is my next priority.  That primary strike rail is new,
> and you can see why I needed it!  A larger diameter toroid should reduce
> downward strikes.  I've put a Quicktime movie of this coil on my web site,
> and there are also some other stills (URL below).  It's quite interesting
> stepping through the movie one frame at a time since you can see how the
> leaders grow and evolve.  This coil has a way to go before achieving
> maximum performance, but it sure is fun adding things incrementally and
> watching the sparks grow.
> 
> Best wishes to all for an ozone filled '97!
> 
> Charles Brush
> http://www.foundrygroup-dot-com/cbrush
> 
> 
> P.S. Congratulations Chip on the growth of this list!
> 
> 
> [ NOTE: The image is coming later tonight to the image sub list -- Chip]
> 
Charles,

I went to your web site and looked at the photos.  Your coil really 
is cookin'!  That was an especially nice story about the support you 
get for your hobby from a supportive and loving family!  There are 
others, married, on this list who are much less fortunate.  I'm not 
married so I'm O.K. and free to coil (so far!).

Merry Christmas.

rwstephens