RE: Which transformer to use?

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

Original poster: "Andy Cleary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <gemware2-at-dreamscape-dot-com>

Hi Joe.  I personally have had no trouble finding NSTs for free.  Usually,
they are given to me "dead" but 5 times out of 10 then still work!  Don't
ask me how, but that has been my experience.  Even if they are bad, you can
still depot them and modify them for even more power.  One tip - if you do
happen to get some NSTs for free, send the shop a picture of your coil in
action, with a thank you note.  I did that with one shop recently, and when
I called for a "refill" the woman said "Oh, you're the guy with the Tesla
thing, Right?  We've been saving them up for you!"  Sure enough when I got
there, there was a nice pile of 12/30s and 15/30s (as well as about 10
3kv-at-20ma ones - they are kind of funny).  And, as usual ~50% turned out
good!  Not only that, but the place also gave me HV wire and
Plexiglas/acrylic scraps for insulation.
	So I'd have to say - call around, be friendly, and you can probably get a
nice NST for free.

-Andy C.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 7:07 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Which transformer to use?


Original poster: "Joseph M. Geiss by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <joseph20-at-home-dot-com>

Hi all,

After reading about coils for a year or so I am going to make my first
coil only one small
problem, I dont know what I should use to power it. I have a MOT but I
know from
making a jacobs ladder with it that you will have to get the contacts in
the spark gap really close in order for it to jump and it will want to
stay once it arcs.

There is a sign shop near my house that does neon signs and I was
wondering if anyone
could give me a rough estimate as to what they may want to charge me (if
at all) if I ask them if they have any dead or under-performing
transformers.

Joe