Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx> Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: Jim <branley1@xxxxxxxxxxx> Hi Folks: I appreciate your concern about my qualifications to build a tesla coil. I feel 50% qualified and with your help I might be 100% qualified.I am a licensed electrical contractor 17.5 years now. I do industrial, commercial & residential electrical construction & service work. My Dad worked for IBM for 33 years and had me tinkering with electronics as a child.Can someone /recommend/ a good conductive tape for my toroid. (I have hvac silver duct tape) and I've gone to Lowes' plumbing department for conductive tape but to no avail. My question also is, does the adhesive portion of the tape have conductive properties?Thank you for your assistance and concern! Jim
I've had good luck using the adhesive-backed aluminum tape available in hardware stores and used for wrapping ducting. The adhesive is non-conductive but depending on the way you wrap it you can use a single piece of metal to contact off of the pieces if you have used more than one. With a reasonably sized toroid you can make a continuous winding around the whole circumference (on the inside the tape tends to bunch up but with practice you can wrap it tight and smooth. I find it useful to burnish the finished wrap with the bowl of a spoon. Because of the sharp endges on the tape and the relatively thin adhesive the thing will work almost as well without connecting everything. The capacitance of the adhesive layer is pretty high, making a good RF connection and when sparks are flying I'm sure the adhesive is shorting through.
Ed