my friends coil

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

Original poster: "Rodney Goolsby by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jeronimo-at-bright-dot-net>

My friend is having some trouble with his first coil.  It was a small 
"Budget Coil" wound on a piece of pre cut 2 in. diameter 
acrylic.  Unfortunately it could only be 12 inches tall and he used extra 
24 awg wire to make it.  It have between 500 and 600 turns, powered by a 
12/30 NST. Capacitor is a "Geek Group" MMC style cap rated -at- .015uf 20kvdc. 
Spark gap was a simple static gap adjustable between 6mm and 25mm.  Primary 
7.5 turns, .25 in. copper tubing, .25 in. spacing, vertical.  Top load: 6 
in. diameter sphere. I'm still working on my first coil, so I'm pretty 
inexperienced.  I tried doing my best to help but it only managed to get 
2.5 in. sparks. He and I are both hoping for more help here on the list, so 
we would appreciate any help offered.
thanks