Control Cabinet
The Control Cabinet is mostly complete.  It was made using the cabinet from an old band printer sitting in my dad's shed for the past 5 years.  I always figured I'd find a use for it.  The top section where the guts of the printer was, has been stripped and the switching circuitry is mounted in there.  The quenching fan is housed there aswell and the High Tension output is mounted there via home-made connectors.  The perspex panel from the front which allows you to see it printing has been replaced with an MDF panel. The panel holds the switches and circuit breakers.  The back section where paper would be stored houses the NST's and also houses the safety gaps and chokes.  There will also be enough room for another NST in the future possibly.  The front section is used to store cables and ground spikes when not in use. Once wired, it will allow power to be cut quickly if an emergency occurs and also prevents it from being operated without a key.  No decent Photo's are available yet but as soon as I have them, I will put them up.
7/3/2001: Wiring on the front panel is nearly done, I just need stronger 24v power supply and another 24v relay.
8/3/2001: I Bought a 24v@3a transformer to replace the plugpack I have been using for testing. Most of the mains wiring is now complete with only the contactors and circuit breakers remaining. I am not sure if my 24v supply will run a 32v contactor.  I hope so, otherwise I will have to spend a fortune buying  new contactors.
11/3/2001:Wiring is done, all that is needed now is another 24v relay and the High voltage terminals / NST protection circuitry set up. The circuit breakers / contactors are ready and  the contactors work fine on 24v.
15/3/2001:The safety gaps have been made and installed along with safety chokes.  The HT connectors have been made and fitted, all the high tension wiring is now in.  I Connected the 20uF Power Factor correction cap on the 30mA NST. I Just need to get a 40uF cap for the 60mA NST. The mains wiring is in but the  power supply to the contactors has been left out until i'm ready to have the NST's powered. All that remains is the power factor cap, 24v relay, quenching fan and safety key(on order).
18/3/2001: I bought a 24v relay and 40uF capacitor and wired them in. I left the main power feeds to the contactors out until I am ready to test the output. I tested the controls and the relays / contactors all engage properly.  All that remains is the testing of the output and the quench fan setup needs to be figured out.
25/3/2001: The contactors have been connected, I started up the power supply  and checked the sefety gaps to ensure they didn't fire.  All the systems worked okay.  I checked the output by holding an EHT cable and got plasma which stretched out to over 6 inches.  Only the fan setup remains to be done.
18/2/2002: A fair bit has been done since the last entries but I've been a bit slack with updating the site. The fan box was built using 150mm pipe capped at one end with car fan attached to other.  The transformer is in place and a PWM controller has been built and fitted to the front panel.  I just need another 24v relay to run the fan circuit through and the wiring can be completed.  I also found a suitable foot pedal to use for the safety "dead mans switch".  I will wire it in fairly soon.
19/2/2002: Wiring done on PWM controller,  connected to bench power supply and tested ok.
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About to throw the switch
Clear view of most of the controls.  The 3 black switches to the right are the circuit breakers the red button is the emergency stop.  The red/white buttons on the left are the start/stop buttons for enabling the power.  The first blue button is for the quenching fan and the big blue one starts the NST's It is set up so they have to be switched on sequentially using 4 relays. The yellow lights above the switches are used to indicate when the circuits are active. The fan speed controller is not in this photo but sits under the blue button for the quenching fan next to the red "emergency stop" button. The black square hole to the right needs to be covered as the NST contactors are directly beneath it.
Not a good photo, had problems with the camera and the film got exposed to light.  Ruined most of the photo's
Shows the nearly complete control panel, the key hadn't been put in but it is mounted just below the first yellow  status lamp. You can also see the NST power switch has a transparent cover on it which flips up to expose the switch
The back of the cabinet showing the output terminals and wingnuts near the doors, the NST's, Safety Gaps and the 2 Safety Chokes.  Need a clear cover to prevent stray sparks or heat from igniting the foam lining of the doors (sound proofing in the original printer). 
About to Throw the switch.  Very nervous moment  (I am not leaning on the terminal, even though it looks like it).   AAARGH
Nice healthy Yellow spark.  Very nice noise too
GO HARD!
Badly overexposed picture of the top of the cabinet showing the contactors at the front right and the PF correction caps in the middle. The start relay and 12v transformer are just above the contactors, but not visible.  The bundle of cables at the top go to the front panel on the hinged lid where most of the relays are also mounted. The top section now contains twice as much equipment since this photo was taken with the quenching fan now taking up most of the room on the right side.  Real estate is getting quite scarce in the cabinet these days!!
I really need a digital camera !!  My camera jammed so I had to remove the film in a make shift dark room.  The dark room was the boot of my car!!  I climbed in and closed the boot so I was in total darkness, or so I thought but was obviously wrong!!