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RE: Coiling Goals

This might be a long thread Terry.
In May 99 I visited my friend,. Tom Polk, in Austin. He demonstrated his
coil in his garage. Even though I knew what a TC was, it both impressed me
and, frankly, scared me a bit. Especially the rifle-like cracks with each
huge arc. His coil can be seen at http://www.tompolk-dot-com
This past October, while playing my theremin in a local haunted house, in
total darkness, the idea came to me...what better way of causing heart
attacks than to see a coil start up in total darkness in some Frankenstein
lab scene. And so it began. Thanks to many on and off the list, I am well
into building my 6x24 coil for the Oct 2000 production. But it will likely
be my only coil. I have no desire to have a bolt knock out a local pole pig
and darken my neighborhood. On the other hand, I am reading a decent bio of
Tesla and that alone is fascinating!

Ted

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Subject: RE: Coiling Goals


Original Poster: "Basura, Brian" <brian.basura-at-unistudios-dot-com> 

Malcolm Watts on the Tesla-2 List said:
  "I'm curious to know: what is/are each person's goal/s 
  in coiling?  I'd be very interested to hear. I will 
  offer no comment unless one is requested."


Malcolm/List Members,

This isn't easy to answer. My goals have changed along the way.

My first goal was to create a functioning coil. Something like I'd seen in
school back in 1974 (3 to 4" spark). I carried this goal around without
acting on it until a couple years ago when a co-worker returned from
Colorado and was all excited by a Tesla coil he saw. I jumped on the Web and
was amazed by what I found (including the Tesla list).

My goal rapidly changed as I started designing my first coil. Being of the
school of "Bigger is Better" my second goal became creating a coil producing
3-4' arcs. Shortly after attaining this goal I set a new goal of 5' and
eventually attained it.

Next goal was the construction of a first class power controller which would
support my coiling addiction for the next few years. Lots of time (and $$$)
later I achieved this goal.

The next goal was the design, documentation, construction and packaging of
the "Mini-Twin" bipolar coil. This took a lot of perseverance to complete
(to my satisfaction that is).

Current goals are:
1) Learn more about measurements and interactions. To reach this goal I've
started collecting test equipment and making measurements. 
2) Sort out the problems with the SRSG I built.
3) The construction of a Magnifier capable of 10' arcs (possibly utilizing
an axial design).

Phew... That was a long answer to a short question. Sorry.

Brian Basura