.::Spark Gaps::.

[STSG II]

This is my simplified STSG. Main electrodes are 3/8" threaded brass rod, rounded over. Trigger electrode is 5/16" threaded brass rod. Trigger circuitry is the same as seen below. With the limited run time i've had with this gap, my 4" coil behaves extrememly well and runs very stable. It even runs in sync too with aid from the LTR-ness of the MMC cap. with a 7/16" gap, arcs were about 2 feet long. Stability wise, this is my most stable gap. Performance wise, i haven't seen anything beat my ABG below.

[RQ/TCBOR Cylindrical Gap #1]

(now completely dismantled)

The fan eventually failed - it was a PC fan so it was all electronic.

[RQ/TCBOR Cylindrical Gap #2]

The enclosure is mounted right on top of a blower from a microwave oven. This gap is much easier to adjust than my previous one because of the smaller gap spacing and the use of a single mounting bolt instead of two bolts and slots for them to slide in.

UPDATE: The blower has failed. It always ran hot, probably the RF. I have since given some of the electrodes to my friend so he can make a TCBOR gap for his little coil, and the rest I have used to make a series gap for the mini spark gap coil.

[STSG]

And here is the new setup for the HEI coil and voltage drop circuitry. It is mounted on a piece of HDPE cutting board, and power is provided by the cord which is fitted with a connector to plug into the power controller which houses the fan speed controller with 25A replacement triac (MAC223A8).

Here is the PDF with the design for the triggered gap: http://hot-streamer.com/temp/tgap.pdf The T-Gap is much easier to construct than a sync rotary gap and provides automatic synchronous 120 BPS needed for NST powered systems. My version follows the construction paper (above link) except for the spark gap itself. I used the electrodes and mounts from an oil burner (where I got my OBIT too). The fan is a large 120VAC computer fan (don't use brushless DC fans as their electronics will fail). The fan speed control is mounted right on my control panel for easy adjustment while in operation.

UPDATE: I am still having problems with the STSG at this time. I think the vortex gap is a bad idea to use with a t-gap. It seems to inhibit the trigger spark from triggering the main gap. Perhaps if the Tebbs STSG controller were used, a stronger spark could be generated throughout the entire phase range. More on this later...

[Air Blast Gap]

Here is my newly built air-blast gap. The electrodes are pieces of threaded brass rod. I chucked them into the drill press and ground them down, eventually using fine sand paper to round the ends off. This gap has proved to be the best performing gap that I have built. It improved performance from 33" arcs with a total gap of 3/8" with the series static gap to at least 45" arcs with a 5/16" gap using this gap.

["Gary Lau" Vortex Gap]

The idea for this gap came from Gary Lau ( http://www.laushaus.com/tesla/index.htm). The vaccuum cleaner motor came from a 12 Amp upright. The vaccuum had two power settings, "Normal" and "ESP" ("Extra Suction Power"). This is accomplished with an outboard triac circuit. The electrodes are brass pipe reducers that have been rounded over using a drill press. The stationary electrode is held in place with a feedthrough wire clamp. The adjustable electrode is soldered to the end of a copper pipe to facilitate mounting and electrical connection. The enclosure is the 4" PVC end cap from the blast gap. The plexi-glass cover is held on by just electrical tape which seems to hold just fine. The air supply pipe is bolted to the inside of the output duct, and the duct is covered by a rectangular piece of plexi-glass held in place with wire ties.

UPDATE: This gap has melted and caved in on itself. It was running as an STSG, and it worked the best without the blower running, which of course meant that the electrodes got much hotter than they should have.

It really does seem to create a vortex around the center. I took the adjustable electrode out and stuck my finger in the hole and could feel the pressurized air swirl around the center.

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