End of Summer Update

I'm back from holiday and so construction can finally resume. Now that the spark gap is done we now have all the pieces necessary to finish the coil which we hope to do in the coming week. Construction of the actual parts is officially finished excluding a few bits here and there so now it was time for assembly. This involves fitting all of the many components of the coil together in the control cabinet and board. Today we worked hard for many hours doing the above. (We also got some new lab coats =)

We started by finishing the wiring going from the control board to the big 15 amp variac. After sorting out a few problems in the control board we tested the variac and it works fine.

We fitted the quenching fans to the spark gap assembly and wired them. We then proceeded to connect the long conduit firmly into the control cabinet where it belongs. The control board is mostly finished now so we made a start on hot gluing all the contacts to prevent short circuits (defiantly needed as the screens blew up the first time). As that wiring was done it was time to start putting the larger items into the control cabinet and wiring them into place. We mounted the hall sensor on to the gap and mounted the whole thing into the cabinet. Wires were then ran from the spark gap motor, hall sensor and fans around the cabinet and were connected to the conduit. Long screws were cut down to size.

Now that the auxiliary circuit is finished we decided to test the whole thing. We shut the cabinet doors and tested the gap and fans at different voltages and thus speeds. Everything went well, the gap span at very high speeds without warping or hitting the electrodes and the tachometer displayed the speed. 

We did encounter one problem. It seems that the tachometer can only register a maximum RPM of around 3200. Were not sure if this is an equipment limitation, problem, or a result of using a different magnet with the hall sensor. The motor can go faster than this though. This is somewhat of a problem as are desired RPM to achieve a BPS of 500 is 3750 RPM. Because of this we will be buying a new tachometer and hall sensor which should arrive this or next week.

ATTENTION SPONSORS/DONATORS - As promised, your names and logos have been put onto the control cabinet. A picture of this will be posted in a few days. Also, your names and logos will be posted in the next post.

Next - Huge Thank You

New Spark Gap

After weeks and weeks of more work, the spark gap mark III is at long last complete. Are previous 2 died on us so here is the final installment. It is much more robust and can handle the max speed without warping. The disk was cut on a CNC laser cutter and the motor is secured to the base in a much stronger fashion now. We also opted to mount it downwards instead of the usual vertical orientation to help support it. Overall the whole assembly is designed way better than the earlier designs and so we are sure this one will be the final version. Here are some pictures:

I go away for a week next week so work will be postponed. After that however its full steam ahead to finish the coil. See you in a few weeks.

Next: End of Summer Update

Odds And Ends

The British baking summer has arrived so we decided to take the opportunity to work on the TC more in the boiling hot sun! Today mostly consisted of doing all the odds and ends jobs such as sanding down holes in the wood, cutting of the ends of exposed screws and sorting out the grounding wires. Here are a few shots. We also said goodbye to the old spark gap. It served us well but a new CNC cut out plastic disk will be arriving sometime next week. So tuned until then!

We even made some fans to keep cool using the old microwaves:

Next: New Spark Gap

Update Video

Here is a short video explaining are current progress of the coil and the status of your rewards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ_tJkT8_o4&feature=youtu.be

Next: Odds And Ends

Hard Day At Work

Wow its been a while. First of I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who donated, a new update video will be released sometime today or tomorrow explaining exactly what we have spent the money on and the time line for when the coil will be done.

Recently we have been working hard on the coil. We have mounted all of the capacitors on a bank and have fitted a Variac onto the control board. However we hit a problem when the 15 amp Variac arrived. It was way to big to fit into the control board so the only option was to build a separate stand for it. This obviously takes much more work and money but there is a plus side as the stand can be moved independently from the board allowing the control board to be preset and hidden from view and control can be handed over just to the stand.

Here are a few pictures of the new constructs:

More updates will be out soon as well as a link to the update video.

Next: Update Video

The New Gear Has Arrived

After a few weeks, most of the Kickstarter money has been put to good use and our desired components have arrived. Both Variacs, the capacitors and some other small items are all here and so production has resumed. Were all so excited and wish our thanks to everyone who made this possible through Kickstarter, the full list of thank yous will be released soon.

Never seen a Variac as big and as heavy as this in all my life! A phone is next to if for comparison.

Next: Hard Day At Work

2015 Update - We Have Funding

After many months we finally have enough funding to complete the project! We made a kick starter to get us the money we needed to buy the final parts we need and it turned out very successfully. We now have £500, plenty to get this coil done. More updates will be posted when the parts arrive. A big thank you to everyone who donated!

Next: The New Gear Has Arrived