RE: Just starting out

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jim-at-jlproduction-dot-com>

Right on all,
Good answer(s) for the new guy!!
All are equal in our rights to electrocute ourselves, go broke, get
weird looks at the hardware store, and drive our spouses crazy :)

Seriously though, welcome to the list.

I had no experience whatsoever in electricity I built a pretty dang good
coil for my first one. I am now in the process of refining it to give me
better output.
I would not agree that it is simple/easy. You have to want to and its
going to take some time and money. The knowledge hurdles are NOT hard,
but rather the scrounging of parts and your own time.

I found it to be one of the most satisfying projects I have ever
undertaken and it never fails to amaze the people around me or myself
for that matter.
I am an automotive machinist(engine re-builder)and I can disassemble,
re-machine and re assemble any motor going, but this was entirely more
interesting.

The advice to search around the internet is right on. Look around and
ask
questions from everyone. 99.9 percent of all the people I have ran into
are more than willing to help, and usually people who you think would be
to "uppity" to be bothered(I.E electrical engineers, professors,
business owners, etc) are the most interested and helpful.

Have a look at my site
http://www.jlproduction-dot-com/Tesla.html
Although not rich in theory, it has a few good pictures and links and
was designed for the beginner. It is very straightforward. Feel free to
contact me anytime as I owe more than a few good turns to pay back all
the ones I have received.


Good luck,
Jim Layton




-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 2:59 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Just starting out

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)