Re: first coil help

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

Original poster: "James Mathisrud by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jrmathis-at-pressenter-dot-com>


ok, well my coil is getting more powerful, but im still not getting
breakout, here are my coil specs

Tank circuit
power    1- 15kv 30ma nst
gap         1 gap 2 1.5in brass electrodes quenched with 30psi set at 3/8
in wide
cap         7 saltwater beer bottle caps filled with about 10 oz. ea
s gap      3 1/4in carrage bolts
chokes   2  2in pvc pipes wound with #28 wire about 7 in long ea.
primary   16 turn helical primary 1/4 in dia. spaced 1/4 in ea. inner turn 8 in
                at 45deg angle tapped at 12th turn
secondary-4.5 in pvc pipe wound with #22 about 21.5 in.long roughly 800 turns
discharge terminal- tennis ball covered in Al duct tape
ground 2-4foot copper clad rods
im also using a 600 watt dimmer to run the transformer

so far im able to draw off about 2-3 in sparks, but im not getting any
breakout. im starting to think that
maybe i need more nst's because my system might be too big for the one i
have also, i hope this isn't the
problem, but maybe my primary it at too great of an angle. hope this helps

thanks for everyones contributions, you have all been very helpful so far
and i look forward to getting
this thing working one of these days.
Ryan

> > im using a helical primary, the inner turn is 8in. i set up a ground next
> to the coil, and im getting
> > drawing 2-3 in. sparks. i added another bottle to my tank cap, i will
> test that tonight. i aslso bought
> > an 8 foot ground that i am installing also. my gap is the air blast gap
> from richard quick. im using 2-
> > 1.5 in electrodes, and i have about 30psi guenching it. thanks for your
> help, ill try your suggestions
> > tonight thanks
>
> >
> >
> > there are 16 1/4in diameter primary turns, spaced at 1/4 in. im using a
> > fluorescent bulb, and my caps are 6
> > beer bottles filled with about 10oz ea.of saltwater. not sure how to test
> > the capacitance, will look into
> > that. im using 1-15kv30ma nst
> >
> > thanks for your help jonathan, and the rest of coilers on this list
> >
> > Tesla list wrote:
> >
> > > Original poster: "James Mathisrud by way of Terry Fritz
> > <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jrmathis-at-pressenter-dot-com>
> > >
> > > im a new coiler, and i have been trying to tune my first coil, and
have had
> > > a few
> > > problems. i am getting it to resonate, i know this because the
lightbulb is
> > > glowing, but i just can't seem to get any sparks to breakout, i have a
> > > small sphere
> > > discharge terminal, the secondary is 4.5in, 800 winds #22, the primary
> is  tapped at 11
> > > turns,
> > > because that seems to be the best spot from the testing ive been
doing, im
> > > using
> > > salt water caps, i have an air blast gap.thats set at about 1/2 in, im
> > not sure
> > > what the average spacing is supposed to be, but i keep opening it
> farther and
> > > farther, and the power of the coil seems to be increasing please advise
> > > before i
> > > break something!
> > >
> > > also, imy ground is a 1in copper water pipe, and is wetted down
before each
> > > use its
> > > been driven about 1.5 feet into the ground i don't know if this may be
> > > affecting it
> > > or not. thanks for your help
> > > Ryan