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Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...

Hi Tero,
            I'd like to see you stop me ;-) - the newcomers see the huge
wysock coils etc.  and want one too.  Personally I think I take more safety
precautions than some of the more experienced coilers, because I'm scared
****less of this thing.  I have safety interlocks on everything, I use
touchproof connectors rated at more than the current needed, All the
controllers are at least 20 feet away from the coil, etc.
I did the flyback oscillator thing first, ran them at 2kVA blowing them into
little pieces but getting 2" arcs in the process.  Then I built a few nst
and MOT coils and am now up to 12kVA of potential transformers after about 2
years.
I don't think we need to exagerate the cost and difficulty involved in big
coils, by the time I finish all the custom castings, machining, calibration
of the satL current controller, balancing the rsg etc.  this thing will have
over $1000 behind it and more than 100 manhours - You don't need to make it
seem harder than it is.
The danger is when they don't understand what they're doing and build it
badly,  because not only won't they get the 10" arcs but they might kill
themselves in the process.
I think that we should accept newbies into the community, tell them all they
want to know *but* tell them when they're about to do something stupid
because they're a lot less dangerous when they're telling us what they plan
to do than when they feel isolated and carry on alone doing stupid things
without anyone to tell them not to.  By telling them to build a 'beginners
coil' they will feel that it is somehow inferior, and not want to build it.
I think that we can make sure they keep it safe by keeping our own standards
of safety and construction high (not wysock standard, just high :-), and
taking a rather snooty view of sloppy engineering.
There are many things that 'the list' says are bad that many people have
done and had good results from, rather than just regurgitating the party
line every time a question is asked and treating these things as absolutes
we should think more about the advice we give, that way the newbies get less
advice to deal with but better advice.
Possibly we should point newbies to the 'Tesla-2' list which is more geared
to dealing with inexperienced coilers?

Regards
Nick Field

> As it have been noted, many unexperienced newcomers to this hobby go
> directly to pigs and powerful NSTs. What if we could make beginners to
start
> with something easier, just like the ignition coil thing? Ofcourse if
there
> is a website which provides you with information how to get 10 foot
sparks,
> why would you build an ignition coil thingy which gives you only very
small
> discharge to a grounded object? I don't know, maybe if we exaggerated the
> costs and trouble involved, as someone suggested...
>