Re: Just starting out

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

Original poster: "Alexander Rice by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <alex-at-rices.myip-dot-org>

28/03/2002 15:05:29, "Tesla list" 
<tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:

>Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz 
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Dan_Gallagher%
PULSARNOTES-at-pulsartech-dot-com>
>
>Hi guys,
>I may not be worthy of this group 

nobody is 'unworthy' this group is open to all 
comers - from the expereienced professional to 
the complete novice

>because you all sound like highly
>intelligent engineers to me.

its all done with smoke and mirrors ;-)

> But I've been involved with electronics all 
>my life. I've been a repair lab tech for 
years.
>My question is I am interested in building my 
own tesla coil. I'm not
>talking about a huge one with 10 foot arcs, 
maybe 12" or so arcs.
>
>Would you guys have any recommendations for 
where to start. 

	The safest, and easiest way to start is 
with a coil powered by a neon sign transformer 
or an oil burner ignition transformer, as 
these are current limited internally. 
	Get some of the geek group caps, make a 
simple static spark gap, it need not be more 
complex than a pair of bolts - sure this wont 
make for top performance but it will give you 
a starting point. 
	From here the sky, or the nearest 
grounded object, or your utility supply. is 
the limit.
	i notice you are in florida, which seems 
to have quite a lot of coilers in, make sure 
to find out when the next teslathon is - 
seeing a coil in action and talking to people 
is extremely valuable.


I work for an
>electric utility communications company 
dealing with communications via
>power-line carrier and fiber optics. I am the 
technical writer here. This
>seems to me like it could be a valuable 
resource for this interest of mine.
>
>Like right now I took from their discards a 
huge coil that looks like a
>cigarette butt stand. You know those 
cigarette butt stands with the tray of
>sand on the top. It seems to me I should be 
able to use this in some way in
>making my tesla coil but without expert 
advice like from you guys I don't
>know.

the best way of getting unknown items 
identified is to post a picture of it - either 
at your own website or on the hotstreamer-dot-com 
site.

>
>I'm very interested in starting and I am 
aware of the safety protocol of
>working with high voltage.

Excelent - at least we wont be getting "is it 
a good idea to put the output of my pole pig 
on my tongue to check it is working?" type 
posts!

>Thank you very much.
>
Regards 

Alex
>
>  Daniel Gallagher -- Graphic 
designer/Technical writer
>                       Pulsar Technologies, 
Inc.
>"THE BRIGHT STAR IN UTILITY COMMUNICATIONS"
>   4050 N.W. 121 Ave. Coral Springs, FL 33065 
U.S.A.
>       954-344-9822 ext. 243 
(www.pulsartech-dot-com)