[HomeBrew] More variable capacitor

[N1KHB--- via HomeBrew]

Hi Dick et all,
   I want to build a magnetic loop antenna which requires a  variable 
capacitor on the antenna in order to bring it into resonance. The  rotor-stator 
type is disliked for it's lossy frame connection to the rotor.  Split stator, 
and less popularly, butterfly capacitors are used instead. These  caps are 
expensive and hard to find. Some people then come up with their own  ideas - 
trombone capacitors with one pipe sliding inside of another, and other  
designs are on the web.
    Then it dawned on me that CD's have a metal layer  embedded within, so 
the idea that it might be possible to build a variable  capacitor out of 
CD's which have that metal layer in them. The entire  mechanics are still only 
fragmented thoughts floating around in my head, but the  basic idea is that 
I could build the stator sections by stacking and spacing by  some 
appropriate distance with threaded rod with the lacquer layer stripped away  somehow 
for contact. Then if the rotors didn't need to be stripped too it  would 
make assembly that much easier. But if electrical contact is actually  
necessary in the rotor plates, I would need to do that much more work.
   Hence the original question of whether a collection of  isolated plates 
inserted into the stator area would still function  to disallow varying 
degrees of charge between  the "blocked" stator  plate areas depending on rotor 
position. If I had a C meter, I'd be able to just  do a mockup to see what 
happens. That mockup would consist of two plates acting  as the two stator 
sections, with a single isolated plate being moved into  and out of the stator 
plates to see if the C value changes. So my thinking is  that if it does, 
then multiple isolated rotor plates would act similarly on more  stator 
plates. My intuition says that it should work, yet some say no. Mostly  just 
trying to save some lacquer removal work in the end, but it also became an  
interesting mental exercise. I should know the answer to this with my  
background, but it hasn't surfaced as yet.
 
Best,
Sonny N1KHB