If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #2300
Joined: Sun Aug 16 2009, 01:49PM
Location: Hollywood, CA
Posts: 17
I'll try to keep it simple. I have a DIY high voltage demonstration sparker that uses a quadrac driving two HEI ignition coils in opposite phase. The quadrac supporting circuitry is not in any kind of insulation/ potting, but for years the two HEI coils were under mineral oil. There were never any leaks, but recently I noticed a small puddle in the quadrac container, which lies underneath the HEI oil potted coils. Not sure where the oil was coming from, plus I wanted to change potting to something other than oil, I drained and cleaned out any remaining mineral oil, then potted the HEI container, which is simply a PVC junction box, in paraffin wax after heating the wax in a double boiler on the stove. The junction box was kept in the oven at 200 F. All seemed to go well. It took several pours, but the wax stayed molten for several hours until the oven was turned off. However, after cooling today, I noticed some depression in the center of the wax. Not enough to uncover anything, but it has me a bit concerned enough that I am thinking of repotting. So, as I used only paraffin with no additives, I'm wondering what I could mix it with, upon remelting, to provide strength, no shrinkage with temperature changes, and of course insulating properties? I read here in the archives that someone added low temperature glue sticks to their paraffin for this purpose. If this indeed works, it would be the cheapest way for me to go, providing I can find out how much glue to add. There is 6 lbs of wax to remelt (the amount that the PVC box holds and surrounds the coils). That is another issue. Since I initially melted and poured everything from the stovetop double pan, which held about 2 lbs of wax each time, melting all 6 lbs within the junction box will have to be done differently, so would welcome any ideas there too (to take a guess, I suppose Id just have to place in the oven at 200 F for many hours until all the wax melted).
Registered Member #162
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140
I guess the easiest would just be to top up with more wax.
Pouring hot wax should melt the top layer of the old wax so it should be quite homogenous when cooled, to be sure you could melt the top layer a little with a heat source such as, hot air gun, hairdrier, or infra red lamp ?
Registered Member #2300
Joined: Sun Aug 16 2009, 01:49PM
Location: Hollywood, CA
Posts: 17
Upon examination today, the paraffin has shrunken too much and what looks like a crack around one of the transformers.
I'd really like to do as I said above, either using a mixture of beeswax/ rosin or paraffin/ beeswax and hot glue if I can find out more about mixing ratios with the hot glue and what type of hot glue?
Registered Member #2300
Joined: Sun Aug 16 2009, 01:49PM
Location: Hollywood, CA
Posts: 17
Nice ideas, guys, but I really need to know what ratio of hot glue to paraffin I should be mixing? My previous paraffin only potting took 6.5 lbs of paraffin, so, being that the low temperature sticks are only purchased in small quantities locally for me, there'd be no way I could mix 50/50 for example. If I can't find a reliable ratio number, and I haven't so far even with Googling, then I'm going to have to either go back to all paraffin or back to oil, but I had really hoped to not have to go back to oil. So, can anyone tell me the ratio I should be using? Thank you in advance.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
re-potting options for HV sparking device?
