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Re: Building your own HV transformer
Doc Resonance,
I want to do what you suggest and probably will, time permitting. "It
sounds like fun."
I have no real reason to increase the power of my TC at this point. It
already reaches out and touches things I don't want touched. But,
fooling around building HV transformers is rewarding, and I may do it
even if I don't use it in a TC.
The induction coil is more versatile. The spark output of a TC goes up
faster with less input power as the frequency increases. It is a
different way of doing things. It is relatively easy to apply solid
state controls to the input power. (a dichotomy here) The varnished oak
box and terminals look like something out of the 1800's and are more
esthetically pleasing.
The other approach is a lot like pouring beer into a glass. I do it,
with home-brew, but it just isn't "right" somehow.
I'm not defending my position. If the goal is a large TC, a pole
transformer is a saner (ummm?) choice. This was a compulsion. I tried
to build an induction coil, back when I was young enough to see 40 gauge
wire and never finished. Then, I didn't have the self discipline, and it
didn't occur to me to build a winding machine first.
A Wimshurst machine with four foot glass disks, in an oak cabinet, with
etched glass doors (preferably driven by a steam engine with a polished
brass boiler and centrifugal governor) charging five foot tall leyden
jars, powering a Tesla coil . . . you can see where this is going. I
saw a Tesla coil in the Franklin Institute (I think) back when I was
seven. The horizontal 10' coil was supported with wood slats, the
secondary wire was laid into spaced grooves in the wood, the primary was
a huge coil of edge wound rectangular copper bar, spun copper or brass
(tarnished) terminals . . . By today's standards, it probably took a
lot of power to produce sparks (it wasn't operational, I had to sneak
away from the 'group' to even see the thing) but it looked right. It
may have been built by the master himself; it looked old, back then.
I don't care what Richard Hull says, looks do count!
"Post it and see how much flak it draws"
Take care
bob