I cant find the original article the page might have been taken down, the ferrites are the size I mentioned but they dont say what type of material they are, your probably better off with some inteference suppression cores, I have about 20 turns primary and secondary.
They are not expensive if you stuffed as many in that will fit in what you have it will improve things.
Resistor plugs will reduce the spark, as the resistance will affect the Q of the tank coil, still might not be so bad an affect to make the thing useless though, my circuit uses 5mm T-in plated drill bits cut down, but you could probably use some tig tips for the job.
OK, so, putting ferrite inside the trans would help the flux? transfer ? or at least make it more efficient? Say no more, Ill start collecting them. Does it really matter if they are configured like yours (a series of doughnuts stacked into a tube) or smaller beads / toroids inside the tube I have. Or does it just make it more efficient?
I think I am going to try some non resistor (racing ) plugs on the gaps because I want to try to use that stand I machined for them if I can.
Have a look again at post 26 and think about what C3 from that schematic I linked to is doing. That 10uF 600 volt non polar capacitor between the two leads is there for a reason.
Electronics circuits and systems are not something you can just toss together any old way you feel like all while ignoring the specifications and values of each component.
OK, I have looked at C3 on post 26 and let me make sure Im thinking about this correctly. The capacitor (c3) provides a pathway for the HF to go through to complete the HF circuit without exposing it to the diode / rectifier bank or any other harmful sh*t that could be damaged by the HF.
The HF would "prefer" to go through the Capacitor short
The HF would "avoid" going through an inductor like a coil of several turns / loops of the weld cable?
If these 2 are correct then what I am trying to do is simply achieve a spark in the secondary winding of the transformer, Just like Dr Pepper and others did with their Mock ups, just to prove to myself that it works. At that point, you bet I will put the proper caps and an inductor to protect my diodes because I dont want to replace them.
If, on the other hand you are telling me that it wont induce the spark/HF into the secondary of the transformer WITHOUT the caps like C3, then Ill start buying caps and building, but I still have to ask how the others do it without the caps in the circuit, understanding full well that when they change from "proof of concept" secondary HF spark to installing it in the welder that they will need caps like C3
Understood, but if it was designed by a man, then it can be duplicated by a man, and then modified by a man