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Re: Components in the UK - updated
From: Alan Sharp[SMTP:100624.504-at-compuserve-dot-com]
Sent: Friday, November 21, 1997 5:42 AM
To: INTERNET:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Components in the UK - updated
Sources for UK coil builders.
This is the latest update as always I'd welcome any input -
especially from others on the list. Some of this may be of
interest to others outside the U.S.A.
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BOOKS
Get a catalogue from Linsay Publications - New York - lots of
interesting books that you can't get here.
No email but you can fax them on - USA 815 935-5477 (24hrs)
Ask for a free catalogue.
my stuff came very quickly and they take credit cards.
I got:
Tesla Coil by George Trinkaus 24 pages, very home brew but
cheap and well presented. $4.95
Tesla Man out of His time: Margaret Cheney - good biography of Tesla $5.95
Tesla Coil Handbook - Todd A.Pringle 60 A4 pages - well presented
should get you up and running. $9.95
TESLA COIL CONSTRUCTION GUIDE - 75 pages - $18.00 List
Contains plans for building 5 different coils with spark lengths from
one inch to 8 feet. All of the plans have been designed using the latest
Tesla coil engineering technology and are based on actual coils built and
tested by the author and other coilers. A unique step by step design
procedure and graphs are shown for designing Tesla coils using manual
calculations for designers who do not have a computer. The Guide contains
19
Sections and 37 Illustrations.
Shipping - 2nd day air was reasonable - my orders came in 4 days!
Or International Tesla Society
FAX USA 719 475-0582
(airmal $7.25 first item $2.50 other items)
Duane Bylund: Modern Tesla Coil Theory 140 pages - good on theory and
practical - covers valve (tube) and solid state designs as well as
Spark Gaps. (poor quality print - great content) $19.95
Brent Turner: Tesla Coils - good on spark gap and valve designs.
$27.95
Brent writes:
"I have finished up a totally re-vamped book. Cleaned up some of the
text, added a BUNCH of stuff, clarified everything, and added TONS
of pictures, drawings, etc. The new book is entitled "The Tesla Coil
Book - How they work and how they are built". 198 pages, and a cover
price of only $23.95 now. (Better, cheaper, etc.) It's not really
geared for the Ph.D, but gives a good, solid foundation that the
novice/intermediate builder can grow from. (Available from me, but
not yet from the ITS though. I *just* got it finished...) "
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General Components:
RS Components (Corby)
Farnell Components (Leeds)
Bull,
Greenweld,
Vast catalogues but no high voltage transformers, or caps.
(Some firms can be sniffy about dealing with individuals so style
yourself Joe Blogg services - ask RS for their catalogue on CD ROM.
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WIRE
Scientific Wire Co - wire.
18 Raven Rd London, e18 1hw
FAX 0181 559 1114 for free catalague
They have 1Kg rolls, all guagues - cheaper than RS.
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TRANSFORMERS
oil ignition transformer can be found apparently from
yellow pages heating engineers. Not so many neon's though - planning
restrictions means we don't have so many here.
New these tend to be about L50 so scrounge old ones.
Another alternative is to use two transformers salvaged
from old micro-waves: Microwave transformers
have one end of the secondary attached to the
transformer core and earth. With two transformers
the secondaries are combined at the earth.
To get the EHT to combine you have to get the
phase right, so swap the connections to one
of the primaries. Gives about 4.5kV at 500mA.
If you centre earth then neither transformer is seeing
more than its design voltage. Some one on the list
reported that they had used them with the secondaries
floating and used up to 4 in series - under oil I think.
At least 3 folks in the UK have obtained polepigs from the electricity
board. (Ask for the transformer repair dept)
Julian Green wrote: I rang around the electricity board to get a pole pig.
In
the end I got 2 for 30 quid (sold as scrap). If you want to get one then
the department you need is the transformer work shop where they re-furbish
used transforers. 5KVA or 10KVA pole transformers are scrapped these days
as their rating is too low. If you ask them nicely they will change
the oil and give them an insulation test before they give them to you.
The type you want:
Single Phase
Primary 11Kv
Secondary 240V
5KVA or 10KVA (dont ask for anything bigger as still use these)
Explain you want it for tesla coil use or scientific experimentation else
they will think you want it to steel electricity from the HV overhead
cables.<
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CAPACITORS
Haven't found any regular UK sources. Mine were all one offs.
You could import from the states - ask the list for sources.
or build your own
Polythene sheet is available in Do It All,
beer bottles make a cheap first capacitor
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COIL FORMERS
4" diameter PVC is widely available at
builders merchants, - fine for a first coil
I scored a couple of useful pieces of 6" pipe and 1' foot
pipe watching for spoil heaps left by the water board, and
some more 4" pipe left by the cable tv people - ask the
workmen. Someone else scored 7" polythene pipe from
the gas board - as was.
I've also wound a coil round a 5 gallon polythene bucket
sold by Boots. It gives a 1 foot arc from my solid state drive
Boots also do a barrel - both are meant for
home beer making. Some one on the list has a coil wound
on two waste paper baskets stuck together.
Toriods
Do It All have 4" flexable Aluminium ducting.
And the grey foam pipe lagging in 1m lengths - wrap
round a plywood disc and cover with aluminium foil tape
Al tape from from RS, Farnell or Halfords.
Spark Gaps.
Builders merchants will supply copper pipe in wider
diameters. Most tool hire places will have a pipe cutter
- much easier than a hack saw.
Misc
Look out for scrap - my daughters hair dryer just
blew but the motor and fan will do to quench a gap.
Have fun,
Alan Sharp.