RE: beginner's coil?

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

Original poster: "John Morawa by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <morawaj-at-interaccess-dot-com>


Mike,

Take a peek at my site: http://communities.msn-dot-com/WeaselsTeslaCoil
I use a 15kv, 30ma NST to power this coil.  With a well designed coil
this appears to be about the max sized spark you can get using this
sized transformer.  I have pulled 40" arcs to ground but the conditions
have to be "just right".  Typically 34" - 36" (1 meter) are common for
me.  Most people who use this size NST get 20" - 30" arcs.  Unfortunately
I have gone through a few NST's.  I don't use any variac to bring up the
voltage slowly which might help things out.  I'm sure you will hear from
Terry Fritz who has a protection circuit for NST's.  I'm sure it works
but instead of the NST going the protection circuit goes instead.  It is
not the cheapest thing either.  Though it is much cheaper than a new NST.

Good Luck,
John M.  AKA Weasel


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2001 3:29 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: beginner's coil?


Original poster: "Mike Wood by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<mike.wood-at-opennw-dot-com>

Hi

I've just got interested in tesla coiling (I like making stuff!) and I'm
kind of in the finding-out phase.  I wondered if anyone had any good plans
maybe suitable for a first coil?  I've been trailing round on the net and I
keep finding pages with pictures of 12' high secondaries and that kind of
thing - that's pretty cool but maybe not for my first try!

I managed to get hold of a 15kV neon supply.  Will this make a good supply
for my coil?  Some of the pages I've found keep talking about burning out
transformers (or otherwise generally rooting them) though - if it's ok to
use a NST what's my best bet for making sure I take care of it well enough
so it doesn't get pushed too hard and I get a good coiling lifetime out of
it?  (they're not easy to come by down here in NZ!)  If there's a particular
design that keeps this in mind then I'd be really interested.

Anyway, hope to hear from you inna bit.

Mike