Rotary Spark Gap Test

My just completed rotary spark gap. Just one 12kv 30ma neon sign transformer hooked up to it. 1,800 RPM motor with 8 breaks per revolution= 240 BPS. At 0:19 I unplugged the motor and let it run down to a stop.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• rsg
• rotary
• spark
• gap
• tesla
• coil
• thomasedisonisthedevil

[yosip1115]

how do you make a terry filter?

[BTTF07KD]

Go to classictesla-dot-com and under "Basics All Coilers should know", click "Protect your NST with this circuit"

[MadDoctorScott]

Excellent work! I would love to duplicate your efforts, can you provide me with dimensional sizes, etc? This would be a great addition to my 1st Tesla coil.

[BTTF07KD]

Thanks! If you send me a private message I can give you the website that I got a lot of the ideas from for this style spark gap. The rotating electrode is a 6 inch long 1/4 inch brass rod. Not the best material for this application, but it's all I had at the time and it seems to do the job. The blue base it is built on is a plastic cutting board. The rest is easily available hardware from ace and home depot.

[DarkMatter93]

Wow! This is amazing!

[triggerhappy77707]

Well, like i said do not do this "with no capacitor" :P. If you have a capacitor connected it will just 'absorb' the spikes like a decoupling capacitor does to a DC circuit.

[BTTF07KD]

Ok well, like I had said, this was only a test. Letting the motor spin down was just something I felt like doing for this test. In the final thing, I don't let the motor spin down. But if it's so bad to do that, then how do you account for people who use asynchronous spark gaps where they change the motor speed while the coil is on?

[triggerhappy77707]

I know, but even with filters, it could be a bad idea to use without cap bank, especially when spinning down.

[BTTF07KD]

Well, as the video info says, only the transformer was hooked up to the spark gap. There was no capacitor bank or primary coil hooked up to it. It was only a test. In the final setup, I have filters to protect the transfomers.

[triggerhappy77707]

Do not let the motor spin down while the transformer is on. This will cause dangerous hv spikes that will inevitably kill your transformer at some point. In fact, you should not use a rsg at all without any cap bank to be there to keep it from getting into the transformer.