RE: Help - Primary Supports

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com> 

HDPE, UHMW Polyethylene, PVC, and even wood (dry) works well for primary
supports.  Some will say you need to use
this plastic or to never use wood, but some of the largest coils i've
seen use wood supports on the primary.

UHMW Polyethylene is very inexpensive and available at www.mcmaster-dot-com.
It won't machine to well (tapping and threading screws etc...), but
drilling simple holes for primary supports works well, and you can drill
clearance holes and counterbore them to put screws to attach the
supports to a wood base.

I actually use this material for my coils and actually have a smaller
piece of UHMW PE for a cover on the supports.
See my picture of my 4" coil below showing the primary supports.

http://www.spacecatlighting-dot-com/images/ctc1_primary02.jpg

The Captain



 >  > Hi Steve,
 >  >
 >  > I'm planning on redoing my primary for a larger coil and
 > was planning on
 >  > doing just what you recommend.  Question, is there a
 > prefered plastic, such
 >  > as polyethylene, for the support maybe with a little give
 > in the plastic
 >  > itself??  Don't know what HDPE is unless it's high density
 > polyethylene.
 >  >
 >  > Gerry R
 >  > Ft. Collins, CO
 >  >
 >  >> Original poster: "S & J Young" <youngs-at-konnections-dot-net>
 >  >>
 >  >> Emmett;
 >  >>
 >  >> You almost got it right when you cut the support down the
 > middle of the
 >  >> holes.  Make new supports, drill the holes, but this time
 > cut the form
 >  > above
 >  >> the center line of the holes so each hole looks like a
 > "c" with the open
 >  >> side facing up.  The cut hole openings should be slightly
 > narrower than
 >  > the
 >  >> diameter of your tubing so that your tubing snaps into the holes.
 >  >>
 >  >> Supports cut from HDPE cutting boards work nicely for
 > this, and have just
 >  >> the right amount of "give" to easily snap in your copper
 > tubing.  They
 >  > hold
 >  >> the tubing securely, don't require the hassle of a top piece, are
 >  > excellent
 >  >> insulators, and they look good.
 >  >> --Steve Y.
 >  >>
 >  >
 >  >
 >
 >
 >