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Re: Newbie....was Details

Hi All,
         sound though most of his advice is I think Chris may be in danger
of making this hobby sound a lot harder than it is.

You DO need to know what you are doing.
You DO need to take safety seriously.

However a lab full of cpr trained assitants isn't necessary (particullarly
as cpr won't help after most electrical hits - you need a portable
difibrilator)

Coilers have run on their own for many years and never had any problems.
Many of our most respected list members are soloists - malcom watts, john
freau etc.

About maths - trust it.  If the maths and the results don't match you've got
the maths wrong. You only get out of maths what you put in - if you don't
understand what the maths is modelling you'll get the maths wrong.

You should be as far as you practically can be from the coil - for a coil of
your size 3m would be plenty.
You should never deliberately take a secondary hit from any tesla coil -
they all leave burns and all can kill.

Good labs notes help - however if your not a paper based person then you
don't have to - its more important to get a feel for the way the thing works
than to slavishly write down numbers you don't understand or don't need.

A mentor or at least a friend who is familiar with your coil is a good
idea - that way if they need to answer a question you don't spend hours
explaining the details - they know the coil and can answer quickly.

Regards
Nick Field

> Original Poster: "Christopher Boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>
>
> >Original Poster: Fucian-at-aol-dot-com
> >
> >hey im a new coiler and havnt even built an actual coil.
>
> Give it time, you will :)
>
> i a 3by3 incher though!it put out 1.5 inch sparks.
>
> ummmm......alright, lemmie see if I can translate this.
> You wound a 3"X3"coil? and made 1.5" sparks? Ignition coil?
>
>
> it was powered by a 1250volt3.5ma he-ne laser supply.
>
> That's VERY low amperage. what EXACTLY are you doing with this?
>
>
>
> hopefully you got the hints that i dont know what im doing.
>
> It's alright, Research is what we're doing when we don't know what we're
> doing :)
>
> i just orderd a couple of 7.5kv30ma transformers and im building a 3 by 18
> inch
> >secondary.
>
> I have $5 that says you don't. Try a 4:1 winding ratio and you will only
> have to wind ONE secondary for now. :) If you "Candlestick" your secondary
> you will drasticly loose performance. As I understand it though, Tube
Coils
> prefer high ratios. hmmm, weird.
>
> I have a 6"x24" coil, that's 4:1 and the performance is great. With little
> coils they seem to like a bit higher ratio, like 5:1 or so, BIG coils,
like
> Wysocks toys, sometimes use a lower ratio, like 3:1.
>
> These are Terribly finicky machines, and your coil WILL have a personality
> of it's own. They also have a sense of humour.
>
>
> can you help me by telling me the dangers such as electricution and
> >things never to do and how loud is this?
>
> Boden's Coiling Survival Tips. Ver 1.1
>
> 1. Before you touch ANYTHING on your coil, put the plug in your front
> pocket, no exceptions.
>
> 2. Never play alone. In our lab there is NO HV work done without a Buddy,
> and ANYONE who works in our HV lab has to know at least basic First Aid
and
> CPR. Many of us are trained in EMS. LEARN CPR!
>
> 3. You don't have to actually TOUCH something to get killed. At ANYTHING
> over 600VAC it can, and will, jump out and bite you.
>
> 4. "Skin Effect" is a joke. Unless you plan on being a broadcast
Enginneer,
> forget you ever heard about it. The output from a Tesla Coil will go
> STRAIGHT THROUGH you, in the electrically shortest path possible. If you
are
> holding something with 2 hands, this is across your heart.
>
> 5. There is a vast difference between Theoretical and Practical. What the
> numbers say isn't always what happens inb the real world. Things heat up,
> explode, smoke, and God knows what else for no forseeable reason
whatsoever.
> The slightest variable, that you will never see can easily and radically
> change performance of your system from one minute to the next. Keep
detailed
> notes and logs and WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN.
>
> 6. Read everything you can get your hands on. A great place to start is
> here. read every post to the list. You won't understand most of it at
first,
> but as you learn this stuff you'd be amazed at how much starts makeing
sense
> all of a sudden. It helps us from answering the same questions over and
> over, and helps you to be a better coiler, and not get dead.
>
> 7. Don't hurry. Take your time when working, do it right. You don't get a
> second chance with most of this stuff. Electrical things happen in the
blink
> of an eye. If you hook something up wrong, at HV. Before you even finish
> throwing the switch, it's fried. Double check everything.
>
> 8. Hot metal looks JUST like cold metal, and I have scars to prove it.
>
> 9. The amount of energy that you can manipulate from a little wall outlet
is
> staggering. Especially when you are dealing with Caps. Learn and
understand
> what things like WATT, AMP, JOULE really mean. 30 milliamps may not sound
> like a lot, but at 15,000 Volts that adds up, remember VxA=W.
>
> 10. Find a mentor. Many people on this list will work 1 on 1 with you. If
> you can find a coiler in your area your set :) My mentor is in Brasil :)
> Though I live in Michigan. But without him, I would surely never have
gotten
> this far with as few injuries.
>
> Anyone else care to add to this?
>
>
> Christopher Boden
> The Geek Group
> www.geekgroup-dot-org
>
>
> ______________________________________________________
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>
>
>