Re: First Light- Bad Results!

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

Original poster: "brian by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ka1bbg1-at-mcttelecom-dot-com>

Hi, i tried a coil using the best teflon, silver plated 200%shield coax made
for the govt, and i couldnt tune it, it just didnt do ANYTHING. till you get
to 3000 watts good old #12 or #10 house wire copper should do just fine. i
say 15 turns or more use 1/4 or 3/8 spacing.  any electrician would give you
enough to get going. oil burner transformer is another good place to start.
cul brian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: First Light- Bad Results!


> Original poster: "Jason Petrou by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<jasonp-at-btinternet-dot-com>
>
> Hi Jake,
>
> You've got a couple of problems to start off with. Firstly a topload is
> really a MUST to get any sort of spark discharge. Even if it's a wad of
> aluminium foil its better than nothing. Seconsdly I'd put an RF ground on
> it - just to be safe. Thirdly, coax cable is about the worst you can use
for
> a primary. If you use the whole thing, you get immense losses, like up to
> 80% of the magnetic flux goes to waste. Use some solid core copper wire,
> maybee from a lighting wire or something, or maybee just the centre core
> from the coax cable. Also make sure that you've got no crossed turns on
the
> pri. or anything like that.
>
> 'Good judgement comes with experience. Experience comes from bad
judgement'
>
> Good luck
> Jason
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 3:12 PM
> Subject: First Light- Bad Results!
>
>
> > Original poster: "Jake Draper by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <cybermecium2-at-home-dot-com>
> >
> > Hi, I'm the 13 year old on the list and just finished my first Tesla
coil
> > today. I turned it on and got bad results, about 1cm hair-thin sparks
off
> the
> > top wire. Here are the specifications for this coil:
> >
> > Power Source: 12V ignition coil
> > Primary Capacitor: 2 Salt water beer bottle caps
> > Primary Coil: 4 turns of TV Coax Cable
> > Secondary Coil: ~1000 turns (forgot how many) on a 2"x8" plastic
> form.
> > Spark Gap: 2 bolts on metal L brackets, adjustable from 3 inches to
> > touching
> > Ground: I didn't connect it to RF ground, I just drew sparks from the
> > bottom of the seconday to the top.
> > Topload: None, just a wire sticking out.
> >
> > So what should I do to make this coil run at it's full potential BESIDES
> > getting an NST?
> >
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