new to the hobby

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Chris by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <chris-at-atomic-pc-dot-com>

Hi everyone,

My name is Christian Thorsten and I'm a computer consultant (graduated
from college as a biochemist, though)- but I've long had an interest in
electricity and electronics.  My first attempt at a Tesla coil was about
3-4 years ago, though I based most of it on reprinted 1916-1925 texts
(try not to cringe!!).  It didn't work all that great, but it made some
ozone and NO2..  I also blew out an electrical outlet on the "surge
strip" the transformer was plugged into (due to kickback, I'd
imagine?).  The spark gap was made of two, very large iron bolts mounted
in equally large nuts and PC-7'ed onto a block of wood.

Anyway, a friend and I recently built a small coil that throws sparks up
to 5" long.  Not spectacular by list standards, but considering it's
probably _far_ from tuned and is made of half-a$$ed parts, it's not too
bad either.  Nor have I destroyed any electrical outlets this time :->

I was wondering:  what is the typical variance range (i.e., +/- 5%, +/-
20%, etc) for homemade rolled capacitors?  I'm using 40 mil soft PVC
sheet (gray, flexible; for shower liner), and of course, aluminum foil.
I press it as tightly as I can with a wooden dowel while rolling it and
then secure the whole thing with electrical tape.

Best regards,
Chris