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Re: Super simple beginner coils

Hi Alfred, All

Cīmon donīt be so hard on Terry. He was just trying to get info for beginners.
I still think the idea is good. Iīll try to explain why:

If the guy or gal builds this "non TC coil" setup and doesnīt find it
interesting, he can put it aside and go on with something which suits his /
her interests more, w/o having spent a lot of money on a real tesla coil.

On the other hand if he/she finds this interesting and wants to deeper into
"real" TC work, then he has already built a (small) psu for a small "real"
Tesla coil. 

Using a small carboard tube (from an empty roll of paper towels, e.g), an old
xformer for wire, a few nails for a spark gap, a few homemade Leyden jars or a
couple of HV caps from an old toob TV, a few feet of thick copper wire for the
primary, and an old doorknob as a discharge electrode he/she can build a real
cheap TC (real) that will get them into the world of Nikola Tesla.

As interest grows (if it does) they can go on to building bigger TCīs with
longer sparks.

This way beginners can decide after each step if they want to go on or not.
Each step will get them further into the interesting world of N.T. Plus they
can decide (w/o loosing large amounts of money) when (if) they have had
enough. And it would be safer (to all, the beginner and his visitors) than
starting out with an NST or even worse a pole pig (as a beginner).

As I wrote: "it should be a variable frequency source", you could go from a
ignition coil (iron core) to higher (call it beginnerīs RF) frequency with a
ferrit xformer, which then later can power a small, but real TC.

Coiler greets from germany,
Reinhard


 Original Poster: alfred.skrocki.sr-at-juno-dot-com (Alfred A Skrocki) 
 
 On Wed, 28 Oct 1998 17:42:45 -0700 Terry Fritz
 <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com> wrote:
 
 >	I have received a number of off-list requests for a simple
 beginner Tesla coil >that could be built by someone at say the junior
 high level. Big high power sparks or >pole pigs, just a nice little easy
 to make table top coil that would be good for science >fairs (and getting
 an A in science). Preferably nothing super lethal but be able to make >a
 few inch spark and demonstrate the principles of operation...
 
 He continues with:
 
 >    ...What I was thinking of is this.  A GM ignition coil is cheap and
 easy to get at >the cheap auto parts store or junk yard. Not quite a
 Tesla coil, but real easy to get and >solves a lot of problems building
 the primary and secondary to specs ...
 
 Terry as Reinhard <RWB355-at-aol-dot-com>, so aptly put it:
 
 "Neat idea with the beginners TC. They wouldnīt be real TCīs ..."
 
 As such they would teach NOTHING of the principles of operation of a real
 Tesla coil!
 All automobile ignition coils (as far as I know) have a ratio of
 transformation directly related to the ratio of turns, whereas a Tesla
 coil's ratio of transformation is dependant on the ratio of primary to
 secondary inductance or likewise the ratio of primary to secondary
 capacitance. Your suggested circuit would make a very nice driving supply
 for an actual small Tesla coil though. It really wont at any significant
 cost to the project to make a small primary perhaps out of #10 or #12
 gauge house wire and one could strip the
 wire out of an old audio transformer to make a little secondary, say
 around 1 to 2 inches in diameter and 4 to 8 inches long and of course
 adding a top load like a 2 to 4 inch sphere or equivalent sized toroid.
 Now that would demonstrate the true principles of a Tesla coil and still
 be very inexpensive. As far as "the problems building the primary and
 secondary to specs", well that's all part of learning what a Tesla coil
 is all about! Besides if one is going to draw up complete plains to post
 on the Net, the builder won't have to do any of the calculations or get
 involved with any other of the multiple design compromises. I would
 suggest including the why and wherefore of the specs of the design to aid
 the student in understanding the coil they would be building, this is not
 much different than the approach used by Heathkit and Eico in the kits
 they used to sell.
 
                                Alfred A. Skrocki
                           Alfred.Skrocki.Sr-at-JUNO-dot-com
                  Visit my Do-It-Yourself Aquarium WEB page at:
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