Looking for kindly souls in Texas to help with coil problems

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Steve Bell <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

I have had the pleasure and excitement of building a Tesla Coil here 
in the UK and have attended a couple of Teslathons and met a lot of 
great people.  I have put all my gained knowledge of Tesla Coils on a 
web site to help other beginner coiler and a few people have followed 
some of my designs
I have been helping a gentleman of advanced years to build a coil to 
show to his grandson.  We have completed all the acquisition and 
construction stages and have reached first light but here we are 
having problems.  With me being in the UK, many thousands of miles 
from Ararillo Texas, it is difficult to help solve the problems.
We initially thought our problem was an over-wound secondary, i.e. it 
ended up being longer than planned, and we tried extending the 
primary with welding cable added to the copper tubing.  Now I think 
it might be a grounding problem.
Is there someone a bit more local to Texas who can help, at least 
someone with a lost for coiling experience than me who can check our design?
TIA

Steve Bell  -  in the UK
(http://deepfriedneon.com)