flyback cooling

[frenchy]

Mentioned at the start of the thread - running sets without the HV cage. If this did help cooling a bunch, is it a good idea other than that? I was thinking it might be asking for trouble if a wire elsewhere in the set happened to stray over there while it was running, though precautions could be taken in that case. Other than that there is the basic safety factor of some kid sticking a screwdriver thru the back or whatever. Also would lack of the cage make arcing less of an issue, since then there wouldn't be a cage there for arcs to jump to?

Also mentioned was using a solid state HV rectifier. I still do that in some of my color sets (not my b/w sets), but have heard scary things about them possibly shorting and then taking the flyback out along with them. I have left them in though. I also use the little solid state focus rectifier substitutes and worry less about those since the voltage is only 1/3 of the ultor voltage. I simply like the idea of taking those two filament loads off the flyback so it doesn't get as hot in the first place regardless of cooling methods, but I guess if one of the SS plugins ever does kill one of my flybacks I'll change my mind. : )

I've thought about adding fans and such but as noted, I would definitely worry about that bringing in lots more extra dust. In the long run, I run my sets infrequently enough and for such short periods when I do, I'm not really worried about the flyback getting any more melted than when I got the set, nor about those SS diodes shorting out.