Although I was pretty distracted by the new printer on the weekend, I did manage to make some progress on the Tesla Coil. I finally got my new Rotary Spark Gap (RSG) finished:
It runs a 1HP 3 phase motor with a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD). I’m hoping that I will be able to get the VFD to run ok in the vicinity of the coil as the electronics are not going to like all the RFI. Time will tell. Hopefully running the supply lines in a grounded sheath and shielding the controller will do the job.
The disc is 12″ diameter and constructed of 1/2″ G10. All electrodes are 10mm 316 stainless threaded rod. There are two stationary sets of two and 8 rotating electrodes. Using the VFD I can adjust for 0 – 600 breaks per second.
I also completed a rack to hold my MMC trays. First I made some brackets out of 12mm polycarbonate by designing in CAD software and then printing, sticking to the material and cutting out:
These were then screwed to some plywood:
And finally, the MMC trays were slid neatly into place:
They turned out pretty well I think. The high clearance around the trays is required as they are to be run in series which means that there will be a significant potential between them. Each tray has 6 strings of 8x 0.15uF 2kV capacitors, providing a total of 0.056uF at 32kV.
This weekend I hope to assemble the 60kV diodes for my 6 pulse, 3 phase rectifier.