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Re: New Guy / Primary Coil



In a message dated 5/12/99 2:42:57 AM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

> Hi All, 
>           My name is Greg. I have been monitoring this list for a while, 
and 
> I 
>  think I'm ready to build a
>  Tesla Coil. This is my first attempt at actually building a Tesla Coil, 
but 
> I 
>  have used them to
>  teach people about Tesla in the Museum of Science, Boston (Home of the 
world'
> s 
>  largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator) Anyway, I was thinking 
about 
>  constructing my primary with 
>  25 or so turns of 10awg copper wire. Will  this work?, and if it does, 
> should 
>  I use bare or insulated?, solid or stranded? (I was thinking about Essex 
10 
>  awg type THHN stranded) 
>  
>  
>  Thanks in advance, 
>  Greg Murray 
>  - Museum of Science, Boston 
>  
Greg,

I was at the museum last year but missed the demos on the Tesla coils and the 
Van De Graaff - bummer.

You don't say what size your secondary will be.  I have a small 3.0" diameter 
secondary that uses a primary made with #10 solid copper bare wire.  It 
performs fine.  If you plan to use a larger secondary, I would use copper 
tubing for the primary.  1/4" diameter tubing for a 3.0" or 4.0" dia 
secondary and 3/8" diameter for a 5.0" dia to 7.0" dia secondary.  I would 
also advise you to build a flat spiral primary with about 14 turns.

Ed Sonderman