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First light!


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From:  Chuck Curran [SMTP:ccurran-at-execpc-dot-com]
Sent:  Wednesday, March 25, 1998 7:44 PM
To:  'Tesla List'
Subject:  Re: First light!

Hello Bart:

Great job on getting your coil off and running with some nice output--firing
up a new coil is always a lot of fun, especially if you get good arcs and
not smoke!  It does sound like that moving outside is going to be a needed
step.  That's the same method I need to employ here in Wisconsin when I run
my coil.  Running coils up north does present some problems, so I can only
operate from about May through October.  I figure that you might have the
same situation in Minnesota.  That was a nice purchase price for the 20 amp
variac.  Go back and buy a few more if you can.  I think your decision to
shut down the coil in order to protect your PC was a good one.  Since you
were able to post the successful run information, looks like the PC is still
O.K.  I make sure to always unplug both the line cord and especially the
phone line from the modem prior to firing up my coil's.  So far I've only
fried one Digital display on our automatic coffee pot, now I unplug the new
one along with the PC.  I employ some extensive line filtering, one on the
high side of the pole pig and then another located on the output of my
breaker panel that feeds just the coil.  I also use a special ground rod at
the base of the panel in the garage that is separate from the ground system
used for the coil.  I figure I'd rather spend the extra $9.00 on a couple of
ground rods than buy a new PC!  Good Luck with the tuning activities  on
your coil--keep up the good work.

Chuck Curran
Cedarburg, WI


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: 'Tesla List' <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 1998 1:05 AM
Subject: First light!


>
>----------
>From:  Barton B. Anderson [SMTP:mopar-at-mn.uswest-dot-net]
>Sent:  Monday, March 23, 1998 9:49 PM
>To:  Tesla List
>Subject:  First light!
>
>Hey guys,
>Finally, finally, finally, BEAUTIFUL BLUE HOT
>ARCS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>At noon I bought a 20A variac ($10)  for the purpose of
>using DC's idea of current limiting. Later in the day, I
>went into the model shop and pulled the core from the
>casing (this variac was not epoxied to the case) and cut
>a slot through the core with a gravity band saw. The
>original wiring was untouched. I then glued in the slot,
>two insulators (saw blade thick). Cleaned it up, put it
>back together and brought it home tonight.
>
>Using the variac as is, I put the variac in series with
>the input to the pole pig and set up a jacabs ladder.
>The sparks were quite fat a climbed nicely up the
>ladder. I had done this before but with halogen bulbs
>which had wimpy little arcs. I knew there was plenty of
>juice to give the coil a first test.
>
>I removed all the gas cans and flammables outside of the
>garage. I set up the coil and made the connections. I
>fired up the rotary gap and began increasing the voltage
>at the control box. To my amazement, hot blue arcs fired
>off the toroid right into the roof of the ceiling in my
>garage. I almost couldn't believe it. It fired with
>about 5kv input (rotary gaps are pretty close), much
>sooner than I expected. The adrenaline rush was intense!
>The rotary gap was reasonably loud and had white crisp
>arcs firing away. I shut it down and didn't let it run
>but for a few seconds as the blue arcs were firing into
>the ceiling which was only a couple feet above the
>toroid, and my pc equipment was in the room just above
>the coil (still works apparently). I guess I didn't
>expect it to take off with such power. I figured I would
>probably have to make some gap adjustments before I
>would get the coil to arc off the toroid. Man I'm
>excited!!!
>
>Well, I owe a whole lotta people a BIG THANK YOU! So Ed,
>Bert, DC, Malcolm, Charles, Jim, Chip, and the whole
>Tesla List gang, thank you for all your support. I don't
>think I would have accomplished this if it wasn't for
>this great list and great bunch of coilers.
>
>This weekend I plan to begin tuning/gapping the coil for
>optimum spark length. I may need to run it outside if
>(it's dry and not windy) to do this. May just be too
>much coil for this little garage. As soon as things are
>in "good working order" I'll take some pics and post the
>specs.
>
>Thanks again everyone,
>Bart (spark'in in Minnesota!)
>
>