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Re: What size TC to start with?




From: 	DR.RESONANCE[SMTP:DR.RESONANCE-at-next-wave-dot-net]
Sent: 	Sunday, September 14, 1997 3:49 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: What size TC to start with?

To: Leland

The usual determining factor here is the size of your allowance.  If you
build too large a coil to start with the cost of the capacitors, power
transformer, and other components quickly add up to pass the $600 range.  I
suggest a smaller unit delivery 12-20 inch long sparks where the power
source can be a neon xmfr, fixed subdivided spark gap with a blower motor,
and a toroid home made from some clothes dryer ducting.  You can obtain a
free guide from Resonance Research Corp, E11870 Shadylane Rd., Baraboo, WI 
53913, by sending a $3.00 stamp which we will affix to a priority mailing
envelope.  Hope this helps out.

DR.RESONANCE-at-next-wave-dot-net


> 
> From: 	Roth, Leland[SMTP:webwise-at-johnstown-dot-net]
> Sent: 	Saturday, September 13, 1997 10:18 PM
> To: 	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: 	What size TC to start with?
> 
> Hello... I've been a subscriber to this list for a few weeks now
> and would like to ask a 'newbie' type of question:
> 
> What size TC to start with?
> 
> My background is thus: As a kid, I did a lot of messing around with 
> HV in the form of induction coils. I even built a few of my own, and to
> my surprise they worked... how I had the patience to hand wind them, I'll
> never know.
> 
> In about 9th grade I decided I wanted to 'graduate' so I bought a used
> neon sign xformer for $5 - 15kV -at-??ma (I don't remember). I was
experienced in
> electricity/electronics, so I used the typical precautions. I immediately
> used it for some Jacobs ladder work- and after shutting it off foolishly
> burned
> myself on the hot ladder rods! I decided I wanted to not have anything to
> do with something with that kind of current (worried that I might fry
> myself making a mistake), so I threw the thing in a dumpster and stuck to
> induction coils. Also made a VanDeGraff for some electrostatic work. My
> Wimshurst (sp?)
> machine never quite got completed. Sigh.
> 
> I'll leave out the stories of fun with a Model-T spark coil connected to
> my old 66 VW Squareback- one side of the secondary to the frame, the
other
> side to a chain that dragged the ground. The use for this setup should be
> obvious (Yeow!)
> 
> Well, now the yearn to get back into some HV stuff is at hand. I'm trying
to
> decide where to start. I don't just want to make sparks, I want to
*learn*-
> I want to be able to summon my math and physics skills that have been
dormant
> for so long (although helping my two oldest teens with their math
homework
> proves I'm still agile in that department).
> 
> I want to pick something small to start with so I can learn the TC
basics-
> try different gaps, primary sizes, positions, secondaries, caps, etc.
I've
> just about ruled out the neon sign xformer route for the moment... I'm
looking
> at either an oil burner xformer (23ma, 10kV) or maybe even automobile
spark
> coil(s) with a suitable driver transistor setup. Once I feel I've really
> learned not just the 'how', but the *why* things work/don't work, then
I'll
> look at moving up to higher input currents- neon sign xformer then maybe,
> some day, a 'pole pig'. One step at a time. This effort may take many
> years, but
> I don't really care- I just want to learn.
> 
> I've got a stock of acrylic plastic and the equipment to work with that,
> so that should be a small help. Various junkboxes have all sorts of wire
> and odds n' ends. Looks like if I use any kind of AC input I'm going to
have
> to scrounge a Variac somewhere.
> 
> Now that you experienced TC builders know what I'm trying to do, do you
> have any suggestions about what size of TC I should start with?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Lee Roth - N8JQY
> webwise-at-johnstown-dot-net
> 
> 
> 
> 
>