New coil not working...

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

Original poster: "Greg McCoy" <gemccoy-at-nbnet.nb.ca> 

Well I just made a brand new tesla coil, plugged it in and it doesn't workl
I get nice blue sparks at the spark gaps and a fairly loud electricity
noise, but no discharge. First off I would ask for any trouble shooting
sites in general that might help?

Now for the specifics: I used the wiring shown on this page:
http://www.deepfriedneon-dot-com/tesla_frame10.html except that instead of
grounding one end of the secondary circuit (as I have not yet constructed an
adequate gorund) I bent it up near the toroid.

I have
-a 9KV 30 mA transformer
-6 beer bottle leyden caps in a series with a close-to-saturated NaCl(aq)
solution inside and metal duct tape outside and a layer of oil ranging from
1/2 - 1 1/2 thick with a brass rod sticking into the solution
-a primary coil of three braided enamelled copper magnet wires of #16 gage
in 10 flat spiderweb coils about 1/4" apart with an inside diametr of 4" and
an outside diameter of I think 12"
-a secondary coil of ~1000 turns #24 gage enamelled copper magnet wire
sitting in the centre of the primary coil about 3"- 4" above it
-3 spark gaps in a series each of two small brass "L" brakets facing like
this: "_| |_" one of which has an adjustable screw
-a toroidal discharge terminal of bendable heating duct (ends held together
by a small piece of wood inside screwed into each end around two aluminium
pie plates with theri bottoms together.
-a currently ungrounded strike rail of ~#18 gage soft iron wire

Now I know a host of things could be wrong, and I haven't had time to play
with things such as the number of capacitors, the distance of the S.G.
screws or the height of the secondary coil above the primary, but this
project is due on Monday, and I wanted to present this to you to give you
ample time to respond before then, in the case that all I know amounts to
nothing. ;) So if anything I am doing jumps out at you as being wrong,
please tell me.

Thanks in Advance,
Greg