First Light with 3" Coil and Geek Group MMC

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

Original poster: "Butch Young by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <wayoung-at-hiwaay-dot-net>

Greetings!

Here's a shot of my first coil striking a grounded copper wire at 29"*.

*<the picture did not come through>


The power supply is two 12kV 30mA NST's in parallel (60mA), with 135uF PFC,
fed by a 20amp variac via a 37amp line filter.  Main gap is 5 - 4" pieces of
3/4" copper tubing approximately .08" apart, with a high CFM muffin fan for
added cooling.  Tank cap is LTR MMC with 8 Geek Group caps in series (with
10MegOhm discharge resistors across each one), for a .0188mF total
capacitance.  The primary is 16 turns of 3/16"copper tubing in a flat spiral
(on D&M's High Voltage primary support brackets).  The secondary coil is 21"
of 23 gauge wire centered on a 25" piece of 3" PVC, with six coats of clear
polyurethane applied for added insulation.  Topload is a great-looking John
Freau 1.75"x6" toroid directly above the secondary with a homemade piepan/3"
flexible aluminum duct toroid above that (3"x15").

I am using a Greg Hunter NST protection filter to protect my NST investment
(no, they weren't free).  Excluding the 20amp variac, I've probably got
about $140.00 wrapped up in this first coil, with lots of leftover parts
(not included in the total) to start building my next secondary, a 4" coil
using 22 gauge wire.  I can't believe how noisy the main gap is, we have to
wear hearing protection any time we start it up.  My son and I were trying
to get it ready by Halloween, but didn't get first light until about 11:20PM
on the 31st after all the trick-or-treaters were already in bed.  We were
able to get 22" discharges to a grounded point using just the 6" toroid, and
the 29" discharge using both toroids.

Thanks to all the helpful advice from both the Tesla-2 and Pupman list and
the individuals who offered their encouraging remarks!!!

Butch
William A. Young (Butch) N4WMT
PO Box 575
Rogersville, AL 35652
Telephone: 256-247-5797
Pager: 256-920-3746
Email Address: wayoung-at-hiwaay-dot-net