Old tesla coil - First light

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Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>

Hi:

Maybe you remember the old Tesla coil that I was restoring:
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/oldtesla.html
Today I powered the Tesla transformer up, and it worked.
I used a 5000 V, 30 mA NST, a 5.08 nF MMC primary capacitor, and
a static gap made with 6 copper tubes and a blower. No filters.
As ground, I used a counterpoise made by the structure that
supports the coil, and an aluminum plate in the ground.
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/otsetup.jpg
It produces 15 cm streamers at both tips of the terminal, with
some corona at the center ball too:
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/otstr1.jpg
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/otstr2.jpg
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/otstr3.jpg

The performance is practically the same that I obtain with
my transformerless coils with the same (not very powerful)
power supply. Maybe a bit better, due to the higher voltage
gain and the thick secondary wire.

The cardboard secondary form doesn't appear to be a problem.
The insulation between the primary coil and the grounded base
is not very good. I had to use the upper section of the primary
coil, because with the lower section I was getting sparks,
apparently inside one of the ebonite support columns, between
the bottom turn and a screw that fixes the support to the base.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz