Re: Beginner information

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net> 

I'm sure you'll get lots of responses.

OK.. you've got the basic safety lecture.
You feel confident wiring tab A to slot B without burning down the house.

The absolutely easiest way to get going is this:
Neon Sign Transformer (any of the "non-electronic" kind will work)  9kV,
12kV or 15 kV types, 15-30 mA
Salt Water, beer bottle, plastic bucket for the primary capacitor (google
for "bucket cap", or someone will post the address)
3 pieces of copper pipe as a spark gap
Bare house wire for a primary (cheap (free) as scrap.  1/4" copper tubing is
even better).  Make it a flat spiral, use cardboard as supports for
starters.
Secondary, about 700-1000 turns of magnet wire (24-28 AWG is probably a good
start) on a piece of 3" or 4" diameter form. Cardboard mailing tube works,
so does PVC pipe. Don't use black ABS sewer pipe.  Wind by hand, use scotch
tape every 50-100 turns to hold it when you stop.  It will take a couple
hours to wind it by hand.  Spray it with clear acrylic spray when you're
done to hold the turns in place.
Top load made from expandable metal dryer duct and a metal pieplate.
A hunk of chicken wire about 3 or 4 feet square as a RF counterpoise under
the coil.

Wiring diagrams are everywhere (I prefer the "gap across the transformer"
wiring, because it keeps you from inadvertently killing the transformer from
overvoltage)

Use one of the programs or excel spreadsheets to run the numbers once you've
got your wire and secondary form.

Once you've got all the parts gathered, it's a matter of a day to: wind
secondary, make beer bottle cap, hook everything up, and make sparks. Start
early in the morning, and you'll be making sparks by night time.

Scrounging the parts takes the longest time, especially the neon sign
transformer, unless you're going to just buy one new for $80.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 5:49 PM
Subject: Beginner information


 > Original poster: Joel <Number6-at-gmail-dot-com>
 >
 > My name is Joel, and I'm 16 years old. I've been interested in Tesla
 > coils for a number of years, and I've finally got up the nerve to
 > build one. The problem is I've never learn't much about the theory
 > behind them after all this time (although I am extremely aware of the
 > dangers). I would appreciate if someone could recommend some web pages
 > for me to read through that contain the necessary information. My
 > previous high voltage experience has only been with a tiny (<12000 V)
 > Van De Graaff generator that I built from plans on www.scitoys-dot-com
 > (still enough to fill my bedroom with ozone though). My goal is to
 > build a small coil powered from a wall wart or batteries capable of
 > producing fairly tiny (1 inch perhaps?)  arcs. Is this a resonable
 > (read possible) goal?
 >
 > Thanks
 >
 > Joel
 >
 >