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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