Re: 10 Questions to help me construct my first TC

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

Original poster: "Stephen Conner by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <steve-at-scopeboy-dot-com>

I've been following this thread with some interest. The answers people have 
been giving seem to describe something a bit like my own first coil that I 
built a couple of weeks ago. Except mine is a bit taller, the secondary 
form is only 3.5", the topload is 12" overall diameter, and it has a 
10kV/25mA NST instead of a 7.5/30. Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I ask a 
couple questions of my own:

1. Most folk agreed on 1.5 to 2x LTR, for the tank cap. But someone 
recommended resonant, to "squeeze the most power out". I chose resonant 
too, for that reason, but now I have some doubts. How much more power do 
you really get from a resonant power supply, and is there more danger of 
blowing the NST?

2. I noticed you were talking a much bigger topload than what I have just 
now. That combination of pizza pans and flex duct is going to be like 
15"-18" in overall diameter. I also saw it said that the O.D. of the 
topload should be the same as the wound length of the secondary, which for 
my rig would be 20". I'm wondering if the bigger topload would help me get 
longer sparks: I'm just getting 17.5" (between a breakout point and another 
grounded point) and Terry Fritz's formula suggests I should expect 24".

Spec and picture of my coil is at:
http://homepages.strath.ac.uk/~cnbp111/tcspec.html

Thanks for your advice

Steve C.