My Primary Coil disaster

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Patrick Bloofon by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <transactoid-at-home-dot-com>

Okay, this whole tesla coil thing has not been going my way. First, the wire
breaks while winding the secondary (perhaps you've seen my post...). Now, my
primary coil is all but an expensive hunk of copper.
 
I cut out and drilled 5 really nice offsets. I mounted them onto a surface, and
began feeding 1/4" copper tube through it, starting from the outside.  After
about 5 loops, the tubing was so bent, twisted, and demented out of shape I
couldn't go any further.  Loops were overlapping and the tube was flexed in
multiple planes (ie, bent side to side as well as up and down...). I'll try to
get some pictures up so you can see this mess.
 
What I'd like to know is:
 
-Are there any good ways to re-bend or straigten the copper tubing when it is
in such a state? (ie, is this thing salvagable)
 
-Seeing as my method of winding failed miserably, I'm guessing it's not how
others do it. What is the "proper" way to wind it?
 
PS. This copper tube is extremely expensive where I live. The cheapest I found
was $30 for 50 feet.  Home Depot doesn't even carry it around here.
 
Thanks,
"A very frustrated coiler",
Patrick