From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The simple problem with Tesla coiling now... Re: Xfmrs
Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:41:56 -0700
Original poster: Terrell Fritz <terrellfone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi Jim,
At 05:02 PM 3/2/2007, you wrote:
Original poster: Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
......................
I've always thought that most people who work with high
voltage/high energy/other inherently dangerous activities really
only appreciate the danger after one of those "near death"
experiences where you go "Wow.. that was a close one". I only wish
I could find a way to contrive such an experience for new engineers
that would be safe, but scary.
When I started fooling with HV, an elderly HV guy (elderly is a
good sign, if you think about it; and elderly to me back in my
early 20s might not seem so today in my 40s....<grin>) said that
everyone should start with a decent sized Van deGraaff
generator. High enough voltage so that corona is omnipresent and
you get a feel for design issues and that the practical effect of a
HV field can extend quite a ways. Low enough energy so that the
inevitable mistake hurts but doesn't kill you. A low powered tesla
coil is probably in the same category. You can make some small
mistakes and all that happens is something catches fire, the
insulation burns off, etc.
After you've done some small amount of doing, then it's time to
make that honest self assessment.. Is this something I really
should be doing? But heck, people do dangerous things with no
experience all the time. Most people survive through life.. partly
by luck, partly by self knowledge, and HV experimenting is no
different. If you are excessively bold, you wind up being a Darwin
award holder.
Where it gets a bit stickier (and is a totally different subject)
is when other people's safety starts to enter the picture (public
shows, your kids wandering around your gear) or where there's
significant consequential risk if you "have a bad day" (gosh, sorry
we inadvertently burned down the school). That's where I think I'd
start to draw the line and require experience and a second set of
eyes. (And, I confess that I've become substantially more
conservative as I've gotten older...maybe it's those near death
experiences? maybe it's just experience and knowledge.. maybe
that's the difference between knowledge and wisdom?)
Jim
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