Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I started off with 4.7nF on the drains and a random 3 turn primary and topload. Arcs were kind of decent enough but needed improving. This one ended up with about 25nf on the drains and a 100nf series primary cap. I didn't measure the input inductors but they are probably around 20-30uH each. Not the best I've made but a pretty good example of the tuning I usually try to land on. I feel like a certain tuning close to this would encourage some really nice long branchy arcs but I actually want to keep this waveform for a while to see how it runs higher power continuous wave. I can tweak the drain waveforms by adjusting that primary cap value but since I don't really have the right value caps I'll just have to try messing with the length of the primary.
It starts to lose the tuning when I creep up to 30VDC and wacks out loading it any further unless I set a precise primary coupling. I think the arcs can be good enough at 24VDC with this one where I might just use a 24VDC battery inside the box. This would make it kind of similar to my drill SSTC gun that just runs from 20VDC. I can probably just start fine tuning an exact breakout point length and then insulate the topload edges so that it stays within a decent tuning without wigging out at 30VDC.
I started off with 4.7nF on the drains and a random 3 turn primary and topload. Arcs were kind of decent enough but needed improving. This one ended up with about 25nf on the drains and a 100nf series primary cap. I didn't measure the input inductors but they are probably around 20-30uH each. Not the best I've made but a pretty good example of the tuning I usually try to land on. I feel like a certain tuning close to this would encourage some really nice long branchy arcs but I actually want to keep this waveform for a while to see how it runs higher power continuous wave. I can tweak the drain waveforms by adjusting that primary cap value but since I don't really have the right value caps I'll just have to try messing with the length of the primary.
It starts to lose the tuning when I creep up to 30VDC and wacks out loading it any further unless I set a precise primary coupling. I think the arcs can be good enough at 24VDC with this one where I might just use a 24VDC battery inside the box. This would make it kind of similar to my drill SSTC gun that just runs from 20VDC. I can probably just start fine tuning an exact breakout point length and then insulate the topload edges so that it stays within a decent tuning without wigging out at 30VDC.
