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Hi William, Actually either metal will work fine as long as you have sufficient air flow to keep them cool. However, copper pipe electrodes combine excellent thermal conductivity with large surface area, copper pipe is much easier to find and work with than tungsten rod, and copper is considerably less expensive. Copper does tend to for a blackish colored oxide in the sparking area, so it requires periodic cleaning with sandpaper every now and then. The secret to good quenching is to use a number of smaller gaps (0.25" - 0.030") in series using electrodes that are comparatively large (for added surface area and thermal mass) and a source of cooling air flow. It is also possible to get reasonably good quenching with a properly designed single gap and LOTS of air (such as Gary Lau's Sucker Gap or Vortex Gap) See http://www.laushaus.com/tesla for how these are made. With a 15/30 there's really very little performance difference between the two gap styles as long as you provide adequate airflow. However, a single gap requires a virtual hurricane to get good quenching, and it's VERY noisy. It's simply easier to use a series of gaps with moderate air flow. At higher power levels it becomes more difficult to adequately quench with either style gap, and eventually it becomes time to build a rotary gap. Good luck and best regards, -- Bert --
: hi bert!
: which is better to use in a 15/30 system as a static spark gap - copper
: electrodes or tungsten rods? how much does electrode geometry affect quench
: etc? (i am using a vacuum cleaner to force air). How much performance does
: a series static gap offer over a fixed one?
: thnx
: william
:
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