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Re: ?? tesla for sale??

Subject:  Re: ?? tesla for sale??
  Date:   Sun, 25 May 1997 15:55:00 -0500
  From:   "Robert W. Stephens" <rwstephens-at-headwaters-dot-com>
    To:   "William Noble" <William_B_Noble-at-msn-dot-com>
    CC:   Tesla-at-pupman-dot-com


> Date:          Thu, 22 May 97 06:21:23 UT
> From:          "William Noble" <William_B_Noble-at-msn-dot-com>
> To:            rwstephens-at-headwaters-dot-com
> Subject:       ?? tesla for sale??

William Noble you wrote:

> I am not in the market, just curious.  Nor do I have any intention of selling 
> such things
> 
> but, since you noted that you do, I am curious.  If you like, copy your answer 
> to the list 
> 
>  I at least have always found your response helpful, and I (even as one who 
> hasn't made a fantastic coil) can understand the anoyance at someone who asks 
> lots of questions that could easily be answered from the refs on the web.

William, All,

Thanx. I've always tried to be helpful, and not too secretive about
stuff in 
general, but there are the odd projects (my projects are ALWAYS odd)
which I
have the lid on because they represent proprietary notions of some
market share
(like maybe I'll actually sell one!).   Gary
Weaver's post was asking me for what amounted to a complete set of 
instruction plans to duplicate a high performance coil that I spent a 
lot of effort designing.  I don't mind sharing a few good tips now 
and then, but dammit, aren't Tesla coilers supposed to figure out 
some things by themselves?  If I'm gonna spend major time to prepare a 
technical manual decribing exactly how to build a high-performance 
coil which is represented by a costly successful personal prototype,
then 
asking $20 for it doesn't seem out of line to me.  It would seem that
such a
notion was taken as politically incorrect by one list member in
particular.
 
> anyway, some questions that can't:
> 
> what kind of person buys these things - or are most sales to museums and 
> things like that??

I am not willing to publicly disclose who all of my customers are but 
yes, science centres do represent a large portion of the very tiny 
global Tesla coil market.
 
> if you sell commercially, are there special safety regulations and hassles?? 
> special insurance agonies?? special "idiot proofing" features??

Yes, sometimes and absolutely.
 
> do you now mostly buy parts like capacitors, or are you a vertically 
> integrated manufacturer (e.g. you still make your own capacitors, etc)

I do not manufacture my own iron core inductors or oscillator circuit 
capacitors at the present time, and do not think I'm interested in 
doing so ever.  I don't have a dozen little elves running around 
getting *their* hands dirty and oily, all the work done at Lindsay 
Scientific Co. is the creative output of my own two hands.  I do
fabricate very
high voltage capacitors when required on the output end of the Tesla
coil for
tuning or energy storage applications.
 
> is this a labor of love??  I kind of get that feeling from your posts.

It certainly is.  I am not financially reimbursed for most of the 
coiling related work that I presently do.
 
> by the way, I bought Dr Resonance's "free" book for the $3 postage he asked, 
> and the return envelope had $3 postage on it.  So the booklet was really free. 
>  Not terribly informative, given the info I had already learned from the list, 
> but free.

It wasn't completely free, he obtained your name and address in 
exchange for use in his marketing data bank.  He scores the names of
schools 
and big institutions that might want to purchase Tesla coil related 
machines this way by offering his 'free' booklet in exchange for a
request 
on school/institutional letterhead.
 
> Also, a thought on large torroids - if you use inflatable core, what would 
> happen if you were to coat it in fiber glass or tissue and airplane dope??  
> Or, make a mold and then use that to make many half torroids (you could 
> probably sell those even through the list)

I'm sure that could be put into practice but you are still left with 
the problem of overcoating with a metallic skin like aluminum.  Self 
adhesive aluminum tape works but is a lot of work, expensive, and 
looks 'bush leaugue' when you are done.
 
> I would also think that you could sell a capacitor kit (e.g. the dielectric, 
> the aluminum, precut tubes and end caps, etc, and a bottle of oil) for a 
> credible margin above the cost of raw materials.

I'd sooner spend my time doing R&D.  I'd quickly get bored if I was 
being paid to self-manufactured more than one Tesla coil exactly the 
same.  Not that a large volume order would be a bad thing, I'd just 
have to hire elves after getting the production prototype exactly 
right by myself.   I am driven by my curiosity and interests, not the
idea of 
making money and hoarding it.

My money is spent as fast as I make it on basic sustenance and bills,
then 
surplus parts to enable my R&D (dinking), not always in the most 
responsible order either! : (  

rwstephens