Re: well sounds good but where do i start.

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

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>

Tesla list wrote:

>Original poster: "suck Duck by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<sick_ace-at-hotmail-dot-com>
>
>
>
>well.... here is the deal i got realy intrested in tesla coils.
>but unfortunatly most of the articals and web sites i put may hands on.
>are way to professional. i can't understand half of the stuff written plus
>i never had plans to building a simple tesla coil. so i had to scavenge.
>and here is what i need.
>
>i built a 13" secondary coil and about 7" primary coil.
>now how do i know what suplyer what capasitor to use.
>and how to build a suitabul spark gap.
>
>i would love if any body answers my email.
>
>
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Hi Sick ...

first off   lets introduce ourselves properly ;)  we are a sorta close 
knit groupp here and on first name basis ...

well there are two ways to start ......   one  by reading all we can 
from the multitude of websites and compiling the MASSIVE amounts of info 
into something comprehensible ( well ummm  thats the really hard way ) 
and trying to beat the "cost system" and building caps from scratch...( 
in other words  BUY a cap, dont waste your money on a home built cap)

lesson 1.  make the primary bigger than you need ( 18 turns of 1/4" soft 
copper refer tubing)

lesson 2. spend the money on the cap  ( either get the caps for a MMC  ( 
its up to you to learn what an MMC is  ;) , or buy a Maxwell 30KV .01mF 
cap off of Ebay for less than 100$ .

lesson 3. take your time designing and BUILDING your coil ... 
 sloppyness willl hurt you here...

lesson 4. have the patience of a Saint   :)    learning is not easy it 
takes time   ( ive been doing coils for 5 yrs now and Im still learning 
... plus Im a mechanical Engineer and I dont see anything moving in a T 
Coil so that makes it even harder for me to learn about it  :)   )

lesson 5. start small and then build the HUGE impressive 12" dia X 60" 
secondary with the 36KV PIG transformer, secondly ...   learn from your 
mistakes cheaply first ....

and lesson # 6.  DO NOT  expect your coil to work the first , second. 
ninth time as you expected... it takes time to understand the fussy 
things that are involved with coiling ....  

lesson #7.  the gratification of all the efforts and time are DEFINATELY 
worth it .....

I just wish I had read more and listened to the more experienced coilers 
on this list as I was going thru my "learning curve" ....  I would have 
saved ALOT  of money and TIME  by taking their knowledge into 
consideration...   but NOOO...  I had to learn the hard and EXPENSIVE 
way....

but still  ...  I suppose ...  I really enjoyed learning about this ... 
 and doing this....  ( learning the hard way...  I learned more)    

keep on reading the websites , keep on asking questions...  thats why 
this list is here ...  and have fun learning ....   T Coils dont do much 
more than produce long stringy streamers ( but gawd they are awesome 
looking ) ...

from here its up to you to continue .........   I hope you 
continue.......  


Scot D