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Re: My TC on Canadian Discovery Channel



Original poster: Bert Hickman <bert.hickman@xxxxxxxxxx>

Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: "Peter Terren" <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Two days ago I had a 15 hour day doing video for a Discovery Channel Canada segment. They shot 3 hours of tape during that time and it will go to one (possibly more) 5 minute segments to be edited on May 10 and to play on within a few weeks to Canada. It was shot using a local crew of 3 and telephone interview from Canada.
I spent a long time doing storyboards and planning shots in the weeks before.
We shot the following:
1 Opener with my shed and sparks and smoke coming out, then big bang and sparks shower out from my cap bank and I walk out. 'I always wanted to do that'. 2 Smoke ring generator at home and in a huge gymnasium. My best shots ever with slow vivid smoke rings going the length of the hall at walking pace and hitting the wall.
3 Interview for about 1/2 hour.
4 Electric shock demonstration with small shocks to my arm with first my Candybox HV 30kV then with a medical pacer going up to about 20mA if I recall to show my hand contracting forcefully. The retakes for the closeup were the a bit stressfull.
5 Can crushing and shooting cans into the air. (no time for magneforming)
6 Set up of Tesla coil car thief protection. I tried about 5 car firms and the local motor club. No-one wanted to donate a car (surprise) so back to the car rental for yet another Hyundai Getz. 7 Set up and construction of my 18 inch coil including new things like the toroid. Double truck tubes covered with chicken wire plus a central motor/battery for the rotating rod. Pretty resilient stuff particularly since it fell off at one stage but was undamaged. Try doing that with an Al spun toroid. Also had a series blower gap in series with my ARSG to improve quenching. Power of 16kV from two potential transformers of a 240V 32A line. 0.09uF Tank cap. 8 Capacitor bank firing at 3-4 kJ into steel wool and aluminium showering me with sparks. (I had high efficiency ear muffs) This was a night shot. 9 Running the Tesla coil car thief protection. They will do a post production job on it so it should look more like the photos but in real time. 10 Pool shots with a TC sparking into the pool. I get in (in a hired wetsuit) and have sparks jump onto my chain mail gloved hand while I am in the water. I then put on an "tin foil hat" that I made up on camera. Actually on an aluminium frame also using Al tape. Big wires on each side dangle into the water. Fine wire loops project and protect my face. I could feel absolutely nothing when the sparks were hitting my head. 11 Some concern here as to whether to proceed. Nearly 11pm and the biggest noise yet to come. Budget for the crew was becoming an issue too I gather. Press on, I said, I have sent letters to all the neighbours within a few hundred yards warning them. Out of wetsuit and back into white shirt and tie and scramble to get the big TC wired. Ran OK for 3 foot sparks to check. Push out to 5 ft then 7 foot. Only just at 7 foot with 13 turns on the primary. Push to 8 foot. No sparks reached the grounded ladder. Tune another turn out to 14 turns and 8 foot spark caught on video. Next run the rotating rod and leave it running for a while with filming with lights on and off. After a few shots everything dies. Not sure what the problem is but the video is in the bag. Another hour packing up and off to bed. A lot of that 3 hours is going to end up on the cutting room floor (97% by my calculation). Possibly 100% if someone sends some NIB magnets through the mail at the same time. I am working at getting some of the pics the kids took on my camera to the website in the next day or so.
Peter        http://tesladownunder.com


Congratulations, Peter - hopefully we'll get a chance to see some of it down here in the US. Saw some of the pics on the 4hv list! Love the swimming pool shot... :^)

Bert
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