Re: First light for my 3 inch coil!

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

Original poster: "Virtualgod" <mike.marcum-at-zoomtown-dot-com> 

a few years ago I wound a homemade transformer using the core/primary from a
flourescent ballast with a 10-lb roll of 34awg. I forget how many miles that
is, but it took 3 months worth of evenings to wind it by hand. At the time I
had no idea what kind of voltage I'd get out of it (never counted turns) or
any concept of how much clearance i'd need for insulation. Heck, i didn't
even put it  in oil. I plugged it in and got a nice 6" or so arc for about 3
secs before the massive corona/heat (wasn't very efficient) ate the
clear-box-tape insulation between layers and had it looking like a
smoldering charcoal in short order. So I learned why stuff is put in oil and
with alot of oil between primary/secondary and why HV stuff can't be made
lighter the hard way. At least all you have to do is find more mots/or run
across some other HV transformer.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 10:21 AM
Subject: Re: First light for my 3 inch coil!


 > Original poster: "Hydrogen18" <hydrogen18-at-hydrogen18-dot-com>
 >
 > Well, this stinks. Now whenever I plug/unplug my 4 pack MOT it arcs
between
 > the outer xformers(carbon tracks I'm betting). After all the time and
 > effort, to have it die in a single run makes me dissapointed. I guess my
 > coiling days are over.
 >
 > ---Eric
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 7:20 PM
 > Subject: First light for my 3 inch coil!
 >
 >
 >  > Original poster: "Hydrogen18" <hydrogen18-at-hydrogen18-dot-com>
 >  >
 >  >
 >
<http://www.hydrogen18-dot-com/projectlogs/hivolt/3inchtesla/>http://www.hydroge
 > n18-dot-com/projectlogs/hivolt/3inchtesla/
 >  >
 >  > Woohoo! This was awesome! That setup was pretty hastily done but I was
 >  > happy. It was really fun messing around with stuff to get the best arc.
 >  > Best of all, the noise brought every dog in the neighborhood to a howl!
 >  > Anyhow, I opened the gap too wide and the 4 pack MOT arced but I shut
it
 >  > down immediately and closed the gap, afterwards it worked again. My
only
 >  > concern is I would hear the hum from the pack occasionaly over the arc
 > like
 >  > it was getting a dead short. I really need to make a better setup than
 > this
 >  > though, it was the ultimate in horrible lashup. Also, my ground rod is
 > only
 >  > a 6 inch piece of 1/2 copper pipe hammered into the ground, should I
worry
 >  > about improving this?
 >  >
 >  > A little bit of a side note, my 4 pack MOT caught on fire during the
run.
 >  > It was a faulty connection on my part, and no the rigors of tesla coil
 >  > service causing it.
 >  >
 >  > ---Eric
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >
 >