Re: Newbie with questions...

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

Original poster: robert & june heidlebaugh <rheidlebaugh-at-desertgate-dot-com> 

In your later post you suggested using mailing tubes. This is not
recomended, but will work if you soak the tube well with laquere. A better
choise is PVC pipe of some color other than black, white is best. Clean the
outside with steel wool and precoat it with clear laquere. This slightly
softens the surface and lets the wire hold tight. I have had my wire slide
down the plastic pipe when cold weather hit it by NOT pre-coating pipe.
        Robert   H
-- 


 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2003 22:00:30 -0600
 > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 > Subject: Newbie with questions...
 > Resent-From: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 > Resent-Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 22:07:27 -0600
 >
 > Original poster: The MCP <ejkeever-at-comcast-dot-net>
 >
 > Hello, everyone. I just signed up and have some questions to ask about some
 > aspects of coiling.
 >
 > I've built a small (tabletop-size) tesla coil for fun, and I am 
observing some
 > very odd behavior from it. But first, I should provide some basic info.
 >
 > The secondary is a .75" PVC pipe (I got excited and built it before doing
 > enough research), with about 10.5 inches of 32 gauge magnet wire on it, 
about
 > 1000 turns. The helical primary is 5 inches in diameter, ~3.5 inches tall,
 > with 5 turns.
 >
 > The main tank circuit has a smallish 5000/20 NST and currently a single
 > 40KV/2nF cap from TDK that I picked up for $30.
 >
 > The spark gap is a simple static gap, currently separated by about .125
 > inches, using the tips of a pair of screws. When these wear out, I can just
 > replace them with fresh ones. The gap can be set for up to 1/2 or so inch
 > separation.
 >
 > Currently, the whole thing is in a highly experimental state. By that I mean
 > that very little is set in stone; Almost all the major connections are 
either
 > twisted together or clipped. So you've got a lot of latitude to change
 > things.
 >
 > Anyway, on to my questions. First of all, I'm wondering if I've got any 
of the
 > components grossly off-key. Comment away.
 >
 > Second, I've found something odd( to me at least). One day, just for the 
heck
 > of it, I took off the topload and stretched the wire straight out. Nothing
 > much happened. But when I took the 6 inches or so of wire and wound them 
into
 > a small spiral (about 7 turns, 3/8 inch diameter, 1 inch long), the coil
 > worked almost as well as with the big copper topload so I abandoned it. Can
 > someone tell me why?
 >
 > Thanks for taking the time to slog through all this and answer my probably
 > silly questions!
 >
 >