Original poster: "Christoph Bohr" <cb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hello Tony, others...
While the most stuff has been said already, I still have some
thoughts on this topic.
Of course it is not very economic when you can get a pole pig
for around 300 bucks, but maybe this is still too much, or you want
something between pole-pig and NST, or just for the sake of building your own.
There are a lot of things to consider to make a perfect xformer, but
if you can
live with "good enough to do the job" and salvage some parts you can still
get a halfway decent device for lets say around 150, mine looks like this:
http://www.luebke-lands.de/tesla19.html
Actual final data: 13500V @ 420mA max
Core: old 3 phase Transformer, center leg knocked out... ;-), 8,-
Shipping of the core 47,- iirc ( cheaper to pic it up )
New wire and insulation from machine shop: 50,-
Work.: 3 evenings in front of TV, maybe 4.
Look on the faces of those who said it couldn't be done: priceless ;-)
Result works for over one year now and sees regular service without any
special precautions and holds up well, behaves like a giant NST.
The NST-like behaviour is paid of by some bigger losses, but still within
reasonable limits, after all it wasn't a complete waste of time, where I
live transformers of this size are hard to get by.
I would not go as far to say its a "very good idea".... some serious
boredom may
help.
Well, I did it, Finn Hammer did it ( better and sooner, and inspired me )
YMMV, and remember to play it safe....
best regards
Christoph Bohr