Startup

To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
Subject: Startup
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 23:29:03 -0500
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net
Subject:  Startup
  Date:  Fri, 9 May 97 09:40:14 UT
  From:  "Larry Robertson" <LWRobertson-at-msn-dot-com>
    To:  "Tesla Builders" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>


Thanks for taking me on. I've already found good information - not 
unexpectedly as I am still several levels below rank amateur.

When I announced I was determined to build a coil the wife asked me what 
indeed I would use it for. I replied "Remember in 'Close Encounters ...'
the 
guy didn't know why he was making mesas out of his mashed potatoes but
he knew 
he had to do it?" she looked at me real funny - so I decided humor
probably 
wouldn't work. So I put it that it was an inexpensive hobby which would
keep 
me from dying of boredom - so things were cool.

The first attempt was an abysmal failure. I did everything wrong - glass 
capacitor 36" square, 6" glass cylinder as the secondary wound with #30 
wirewrap wire, 7 turn primary - first time I turned it on the secondary
arced 
turn-to turn all the way down. I was using a 15KV 60 MA Neon Transformer
with 
no variac.

Fortunately I stumbled  onto R. Quicks posts on funet.  I rolled a good 
capacitor using two sheets of polyethylene .030 and immersed it in oil
from 
the Tulco oil company.Right peppy it was, augering out part of the tool
used 
to short it. 

I first tried a multilayer primary consisting of 4 layers of 4 turns
each of 
1/2 inch copper tube separated by 1 inch. The arcs between layers were 
somewhat impressive, and the wife asked " Are you sure you know what you
are 
doing?" to which I had no reply.

I reconfigured the primary into a 14 turn spiral angled up about  20
degrees 
mostly to keep separation between the leads.

The secondary is 8" piece of expensive plexiglas 30 inches long wound
with ~ 
1000 turns of #24 magnet wire, well sealed with polyurethane.

I built a toroid out of flexibe pipe stuff covered over with aluminum
tape.

Got it crancked up and the wife , eyes larger than than normal decided
not to 
watch.

Inital tests were inconclusive but we got up to 36 inches of spark -
when the 
capcitor failed .

So  this weekend I guess I'll be building capacitors

LR