Re: [TCML] Pictures of my Tesla Coil

["Barton B. Anderson" <bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dirk,

Congrats on a nice first coil.
My first coil was ridiculous! We really should have some place to show 
our first coils. That would be a cool thing to see and have fun with!

Here's me on my 1st coil (what a nerd). There's so many things wrong 
with this!
http://www.classictesla.com/temp/bartorig.jpg

Here's my first sparks on this coil.
http://www.classictesla.com/temp/1stSpark.jpg

Here's the same coil later on.
http://www.classictesla.com/temp/bw14.jpg

Your toroid is fine. It looked like about a 4" secondary and maybe 3" 
toroid diameter? Usually, power is the key. Or better put, getting power 
to the toroid. My first thought is the transformer power and then cap 
size. I didn't see any specs on the coil and they certainly help us help 
you. Following transformer and cap power, the spark gap and other losses 
are usually considered. Your gap looks good, but I'm not sure of the 
fans capabilities. I've never had much luck with muffin fans and 
eventually went to a high cfm squirrel cage fan (lots of air) for your 
size coil.

Maybe share some specs on those items or even the whole coil and plenty 
of recommendations will follow.

Take care,
Bart

Dirk Stubbs wrote:
> Regarding breaking out, my coil seems to break out quite fine; however,
> the sparks are not strong. By strong I mean they are thin; not real fat
> like other peoples TCs I have seen pictures of.
>
> What causes this and how can I correct it?
>
> Thanks
> Dirk
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Lau, Gary
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 7:59 PM
> To: 'Tesla Coil Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [TCML] Pictures of my Tesla Coil
>
> Hi Dirk:
>
> Regarding the toroid size - it looks quite appropriate in size to me,
> relative to the secondary.  Is it unable to break out?  It may just
> (ha!) be a matter of tweaking other things - coupling, gap width (be
> careful!), and primary tap.
>
> Are the primary support bits made from the cutting board a solid block,
> with the tubing passing through a series of holes?  While that works as
> well as mine, you might consider a much easier technique of cutting
> notches along the edge of the blocks, and just dropping the tubing in.
> See http://www.laushaus.com/tesla/primary.htm - it'll save you a lot of
> frustration and cussing, threading the entire length through every hole.
>
> Regards, Gary Lau
> MA, USA
>
>   
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> > Behalf Of Dirk Stubbs
> > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:49 PM
> > To: 'Tesla Coil Mailing List'
> > Subject: [TCML] Pictures of my Tesla Coil
> >
> > Well, it has been quite awhile since I been real active in building my
> > Tesla Coil. In fact, I built my first and only Tesla Coil in 2006. I
> > just finally took pictures of it and wanted to share it with people
> >     
> that
>   
> > might enjoy it. My wife says "That's it. You mean you spent $200
> >     
> dollars
>   
> > on building that! You idiot!" heheh
> >
> > I learned how to build from this very list and owe everyone much
> >     
> thanks.
>   
> > Now I just need to play with the tapping. Replace the toroid as I feel
> > it is too big for my coil but I had to deal with the size of the
> >     
> parts.
>   
> > This was my first coil so please go easy on me. :-)
> >
> > http://www.dirkstubbs.net/photoalbum//main.php?aid=106
> > <http://www.dirkstubbs.net/photoalbum/main.php?aid=106>
> >     
>
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>   
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