Re: My first coil

["bob golding" <yubba-at-xxxxxxxxx> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>)]

Hi Paul,
	Welcome to the UK coiling community. There are quite a few coilers in
the UK. Take a look at < www.tcbouk-dot-org.uk > As regards the caps the RS
Arcotronics caps are fine to use. RS no 114 474. Several UK coilers have
been using them for well over a year now without any problems as far as
I know. (they should give us some free with all this positive feedback
we are giving them :-)). I have used them up to 2.5 KVa and Other people
have used them up to 15 KVa. You need a lot more voltage than 900v
something like 6kv minimum. For a small coil you could use an Oil Burner
Ignition Transformer. O.B.I.T. Have a look at your local dump. The thing
you are looking for is a oil fired boiler combuster. It has a fan on one
end, and a burner that looks like a big blow lamp around 3" dia on the
other. The transformer is around 4" long x 3" high and usually has a
mains lead one side going to a control box and two leads that look like
spark plug  leads going into the burner part. If you can't find one I
could let you have one cheap. They weigh around 2.5 Kgs so Postage might
be an issue. Where abouts in the UK are you?

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Paul Benham" <Paulb-at-woodanddouglas.co.uk>
> 
> I am looking towards building my first coil.  I have looked at various
> web sites and the archives on pupman, as well as ordering a couple of
> books and some software.  Some questions:-
> 
> I have a 900V a.c. 0.5A transformer.  This requires too much capacitance,
> but should I contemplate building with this as a cheap start, with less
> capacitance, or am I wasting my time.
> 
> I have thought about a 1" diameter secondary as a start, or should I
> think about a 2" Secondary(I only have a small garage).  My worry is I
> will build something which will not spark at low enough power inputs,
> and I believe that both sizes will take about the same amount of time to
> build.
> 
> Does anyone know of anywhere in the U.K where I can get an NST on the
> cheap, or a good supplier of Polycarb caps that I can use to make a
> MMC?  I have looked at RS/Farnell, but they do not seem to have anything
> suitable.
> 
> Are there many people in the U.K. coiling?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Paul.