RE: FIRST time coiler almost there

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

Hi Dan:

Comments interspersed:

>Original poster: "Dan by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<toodamtall1-at-yahoo-dot-com>

>This is a pre-emptive strike. Do you all think I'm set with the following:
>
>15/60 nst with one broken ceramic insulator

You may wish to check that you can draw an arc to the case from both HV
terminals before assuming everything is all set.

>a 5 gal. 12-corona bottle chlorine tablet screw on lid bucket cap

This should come out to about .01uF and that will be fine, but I've had the
best results from my 15/60 after I doubled my cap from .01 to .02uF.

>brass tubing for gaps

I would need a good deal more information about your gap than this to make
any useful comment.

>typical tubular primary, thinking 3/8" over 1/4"

For a 15/60 NST-powered coil, 1/4" tubing should be just fine and much
easier to work with.

>8" X 29" G10 secondary wound with 18ga. wire 
>(I know 18ga. is kinda big but I have a ton of it and
>thought I'd give it a try unless you all say
>otherwise)

I've never heard of G10 coming in tubing-form, and the weight of a solid
cylinder of G10 would be unthinkable.  Are you sure you don't mean PVC?

18 gauge wire is much heavier than what should be used, and will result in
a secondary with a lower than desired inductance, keeping your frequency
higher than desired.  I'd recommend between 22 and 26 gauge.

I'll leave it to you to work through the numbers to make sure everything is
in tune.

>dead man's switch

>variac

>dryer duct on pie tin toroid

How big?  For a 15/60 NST powered coil, I'd recommend something like 6" x 24".

>Don't have the nst protection circuit yet (should I at
>the beginning?)

Since you'll be playing with the tuning and gap settings more-so at the
beginning, this is when a protection circuit would be most beneficial.

>Can you think of anything I've left out or overlooked.

RF ground.

>After I get this variac I wil be anxiously moving
>forward. 

>Thanks for being there folks I really appreciate your
>help. 
>This is something I've wanted to do for a long time
>and I can't wait to see the looks on the kids' faces.
>
>Dan
>Ft. Lauderdale

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA