RE: The simple problem with Tesla coiling now... Re: Xfmrs

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Original poster: "Jim Mora" <jmora@xxxxxxxxxxx>



-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 1:42 PM
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The simple problem with Tesla coiling now... Re: Xfmrs

Original poster: Terrell Fritz <terrellfone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I started "HV" with ignition coils from the junk yard in the fifth
grade. Got shocked all the time ;-))  Then got into the mail order
sources on Tesla coil plans.  They never worked...  Then went to
"school"...  Then worked on 375kV power line equipment... Then worked
in the high energy power supply business for another 18
years...  Then "retired" ;-))  Played with lots of vacuum plasma
things and lasers in there to...

So after a lot of "skool" I know "how to do it" now ;-))

So I studied Tesla coil arcs, and stepped further back with each
study...  I studied the EMP dangers, and stopped doing public coil
demos...  I studied the dangers of my modern circuits, and stopped
publicly posting them...

The "simple problem with Tesla coiling" NOW is, It is VERY
dangerous!!!  Unlike the "good old days" when nobody got a coil to
work for the first few years...  Now a days, the information is there
to make a gigantically powerful coil right off in an afternoon with
two old microwaves and a pair of pliers...  Worse yet, is that the
new super high power coils are "much easier" to make than older designs...

It really is "NOT fun games" any more...  If a young kid pulls a MOT
instead of a ford coil, the 2kV at 2 amps will blow his dead guts all
over the house!!!  The totally screwed up coil "plans" that could not
shock your cat 20 years ago, have been "replaced" by coils that can
send kitty "into orbit" now...

There are a "few" "safety gates" still in place, but they are "fragile"...

I "very deeply fear" that newcomers to our sport might "grasp" the
newer technologies "right off" and simply kill themselves...

I am not sure "how"...  But we are at the brink of needing to take
safety "a great step further" now...

Cheers,

         Terry



Hi Terry, et all,

The dangers have changed and become more accessible for the curious but
uninformed. Simply by disassembly of a junked microwave oven on the curb.
Are there any stats on this?

However, I latched onto B+ at 15 that was powering up a HS lab for tube
experimentation and would have died if someone hadn't hit the emergency shut
off ( I paralleled a few together). Too many clip leads around...We put them
in a cabinet after that. B+ High Voltage was a given in tube days and gave a
very nasty and likely dangerous bite since it was filtered.

I think it is good that you are sending out the message of the dangers prior
to the know how. The curious are in more danger now.

Jim Mora