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Re: Beginners Tesla Coils



At 05:32 PM 11/16/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Original Poster: Cabbott Sanders <cabbott-at-cyberis-dot-net> 
>
>It seems to me that people are trying to find an "easy way" into the hobby
>of tesla
>coiling.  For the life of me, I cannot accept this would be true.  Before
>my first
>tesla coil, i had never seen one in real life....  and now, only 6 months
>later, i am
>throwing 48" sparks.  This was only possible through hard determination and
>brutal
>interest which motivated me thrue those "sparkless" months.  i'm sure
>everyone on this
>list will vouch for me on the fact that even if there WAS a recipe for a
>tesla coil on
>the net, the standard lamen would not understand it until he too, has gone
>through his
>very own "sparkless" months.
>
>--
>Cabbott Sanders

The very first electrical circuit I ever built was the modified flyback,
"supposed 'Tesla-coil'" design using two 2n3055's. I got the plan from the
local library, using the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. *Every*
library has the Reader's Guide, but they may not have the periodicals
listed therein. Go to the library of a decent-sized university and you're
home free. Reference librarians will be happy to help.

The next thing I did, finding that I was hooked on HV, was to go back to
the Reader's Guide and starting at the listing for the year 1890, I
researched everything I could find under "Tesla," "Electric," "Electrical,"
"Condenser," "Capacitor," "Induction," "Coil," and every other thing I
could think of, from 1890 up to "now" (which was 1982, back then ;) I found
plans and plans and plans and more plans. Of course, I knew absolutely
nothing about inductance, capacitance, or anything else. In fact, I found
tons of induction coil plans and copied them all, not knowing the
difference between an induction coil and a Tesla coil. That was the
learning phase. (As an aside, I was so proud of myself for having learned
to navigate the university library, I thought I might even be able to go to
school, so I gave that a shot too. In another semester I'll be Dan Kline,
M.Ed...All thanks to small kit that generated an interest in Tesla-coiling ;)

The next coil I built was the horizontal coil in R.A. Ford's "Tesla Coil
Secrets"   I used what I had attempted to learn at the library, to try and
calculate out all of the coil parameters. It worked ok, but not great. And
the book seemed to speculate more than I liked. After that, I started
designing my own coils. 

The point is, I got a plan for a small transistor-driven HVHF coil and was
hooked. I went and educated myself and then built a "monster" coil from a
plan. Then I started designing my own. I don't think there's an "easy" way
to get into Tesla-coiling. :) One either "gets into it" or one doesn't. I
mean, try *NOT* making a simple hologram from a kit, and spending six
imageless months getting into *that* theory ;) A small kit goes a long way
to motivate an individual toward continual advancement: reinforcement is
quick, and the builder knows that greater successes are possible. :)

And by the way, I have yet to see any of the information I found at the
library to be on the internet...;)

my 0.02

Dan