Re: Revamping an Old Coil

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

Original poster: "Gregory Hunter by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ghunter31014-at-yahoo-dot-com>

What you have there is a bi-polar Tesla coil. At
least, that's what it looks like to me. That doesn't
mean it alternates between depression and rapture. It
means the base of the secondary is ungrounded, and
both ends develop a high potential. The spark gap on
the thing is to give the output spark someplace to go,
so it doesn't go where it shouldn't. The way it is set
up now, the only spark it will produce is one that
jumps that metal ball spark gap.

The small diameter coil in the middle with many turns
of fine wire is the secondary, and the outer coil with
a few turns of thick wire or tubing is the primary.
You are missing some pretty important stuff--sort of
like a car with no engine.

You need a high voltage power supply. A neon sign
transformer would be about right--check e-bay. I'm
talking about a real iron-core transformer here--not
one of the little solid-state neon tube power
supplies. You also need a spark gap and a high voltage
capacitor. For a coil this size I'd try a small
RQ-style multi-gap with a little fan or blower mounted
on top. An MMC would be my choice for the tank cap.

If the secondary is in good condition, this coil can
most likely be restored to working order--all you need
is money and time!

Regards,

Greg
http://hot-streamer-dot-com/greg

--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <SageGaspar-at-aol-dot-com>
> 
> Hi!  I recently posted something about trying to get
> an old Tesla coil back
> into working condition, and I took the pictures that
> were requested:
> 
> http://members.aol-dot-com/sagegaspar/tesla1.jpg
> 
> and
> 
> http://members.aol-dot-com/sagegaspar/tesla2.jpg
> 
> The outside coil isn't connected to anything, the
> inside coil is connected
> to those two metal spheres (spark gap?) to the best
> of our knowledge, and
> that's about it.
> We have access to or can build an appropriate
> capacitor, we've seen some of
> the calculators out there, and we can provide either
> a standard AC outlet
> or a power supply.  What do we need to get our hands
> on in addition to
> these things, and how do we hook everything
> together?
> 
> 



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