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Re: Coil costs $0.00? and $,$$$,$$$+++?



Original poster: "Michael H Nolley by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <nolleym-at-willamette.edu>

> I know many have made coils for very little money and, of course, you can
> spend tons of cash on them too.  However, has anyone ever made a coil that
> they didn't buy anything for?  I mean, you found all the parts and such for
> free and didn't even buy glue or buy anything on it.  In other words, a
> truly "free" coil?

    It's certainly possible to make a low cost tesla coil.  Almost anything you
can buy, you can get for free if you look hard enough.  However, no coil is
free, because it takes gas to scrounge.  I suppose if one was on a bike that
problem would be solved.  The main problem would be the capacitor.  Even glass
plate capacitors require some money to buy the glass, or the aluminum foil, if
the glass happens to be free.
    If I were to put together a mostly free coil, I would do it this way: (this
is not an autobiography)
    1.  Salvage an NST from a local sign shop, (rare these days) or salvage a
couple of mots and their attendant capacitors and diodes from abandoned
microwave ovens at repair shops.  When the sign shop or microwave oven repair
shop cautions that transformers can be deadly, confidently assure them that you
know what you are doing.
    2.  Salvage the magnet wire from abandoned TV's at a TV repair shop.
    3.  Ask a local grocery store to donate 8-15 HDPE frosting buckets, which
the bakery has left over.  When the girl from school asks you what you are
doing with all those buckets, stammer something about helping your mother with
yard work.
    4.  ask a neighbor if you can borrow some aluminum foil.
    5.  Construct Friar Tom's hdpe bucket-cap, but don't bother with the oil
immersion.
    Or, alternatively, collect beer bottles and make a Geek cap, using sea salt
which you borrowed from the aforementioned neighbor.  When the neighbor asks
why you can't afford salt, mention that in the Middle East and North Africa,
salt was considered more valuable than gold.  Use the moment of confusion to
escape.
   6.  steal a giant Sonotube from a construction project (just kidding)
   7.  Ask a local hardware store to donate scrap lengths of PVC.  Mention that
you'll send pictures.  Don't worry, they know you won't follow through.
    8.  make the spark gap out of salvaged bolts, or find some welding shop
willing to donate welding rods, or find a hardware store willing to donate
copper pipe.  Or, make a rotary spark gap with thumbtacks taken from your dad's
office, and the fan and fan motor from the microwave ovens you dismantled.
(Don't expect the latter to work at all)
    9.  Build your tesla coil, and pay yourself nothing.  Fire it up, and watch
it not work.  Destroy it in frustration, screaming at the top of your lungs:
    "Aaaaaaauuuggh!!!!!   My Genius has been foiled by the Darwininnyan
machinations of the capitalist system!"
    10.  Grab your NST by the insulators and hurl it out the window.
    9.  After being electrocuted, convince everyone that all you need is a hole
in the ground, and that emergency room, embalming and burial costs should be
overlooked. (unlikely)
    10.  Have fun with your kludged together TC!

                --Mike