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Re: Newbe Info on Magnifiers



Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Subscriber: smith-at-email.mannheim.army.mil Sun Jan  5 20:57:49 1997
> Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 22:47:29 +0000
> From: smith-at-email.mannheim.army.mil
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Newbe Info on Magnifiers
> 
> All,
> 
>                I am going to attempt to construct a small magnifier
> system, but I had a some questions about design and construction.
>  I have read that the driver secondary has fewer turns than the
> primary. Is this true? As far as I can gather, the tertiary coil is
> situated above the driver and is fed by one lead from the secondary
> while the other goes to ground. I have read posts about using
> copper tubing for the primary but what about the secondary?  I am also
> assuming that the same enameled wire common to the secondary of most
> two coil sytems is used for the tertiary coil. Is this true? I also
> read that maggies work best off high break rates. I imagine its
> all a matter of tuning but generally spaeaking  Are these rates
> significantly higher than those of a two coil system? Is the rest of
> the tank curcuit pretty much the same? Lastly (whew, beginers come
> up with all kinds of questions huh:-), when they say tap the primary,
> what are they tapping to?  I have seen a million diagrams, all having
> slightly different designs. Can anyone help me on this? I've learned
> a ton in the short time I have been on the list but still have a long
> way to go...
> 
> Thanks,
> Bryan


Bryan,

Magnifiers are tricky beasts and not for the novice.  I hope that you 
have built and tested about 4 Tesla coils of the regular type,  made two 
of three differrent gap systems, etc.  A complete familiarity with the 
regular old two coil system is a virtual right of passage to the 
magnifier.

First of all the driver secondary always has more turns in it than the 
primary.  The wire size in the secondary should be much larger than that 
of the tertiary-extra coil-resonator.  The inductance of the secondry 
driver coil should be a small fraction of that of the extra coil. 1/4th 
to 1/10 as much.

When tapping a primary you are just tuning it!  This usually is in the 
form of a wire connecting the upper turns of the primary coil to the 
primary tank components.

The secondary driver is always grounded at the base and the top turn is 
carried off to the base of the extra coil which can be horizontally 
removed a hundred feet or more and in a deep pit if necessary.  The 
position of the extra coil is rarely on top of the secondaary driver.  As 
a matter of fact it is best removed from the influence of the 
primary/secondary system.

A magnifier is not just a Tesla coil with another coil attached.

Finally, the magnifier is coupled very tightly!  Way beyond anything a 
standard coil could withstand. (K=.4-.6).  This demands an incredible gap 
system which is far beyond the normal gapping required for the standard 
table top Tesla coil system.  A disucssion of gapping for magnifiers can 
consume a full 2 hour video.

Good luck.

Richard Hull, TCBOR