[TCML] Copper Strap for Primary Material; Tesla Coil Tuner

[Jeff Behary <electrotherapy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,
I suggest copper strap.  www.gacopper.com has excellent prices (at least "somewhat" affordable), 50 feet of 1" wide for $44, .022" thick.  It works well electrically, doesn't overheat, is easy to handle and work with, and is a lot easier to reuse and form than tubing (in case you build more coils down the road and have to recycle components).  The strap they sell is as nice as in the photos, really beautiful, clean, fingerprint-free, etc.  They also sell on Ebay under the search "copper strap".  I really like them, because copper strap was normally hard to find in small quantities (and not always available in convenient sizes).  The sizes they sell are just perfect.
 
Here is one Primary Coil I made with their copper strap, and some cardboard:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2007/FranksCurtis/DSC09022.JPG
 
Here is a larger coil that uses copper strap for the primary, a few photos down you can see the complete coil:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2008/6inCopperTests/index.htm
Performance photos:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2008/CopperOudin/index.htm
 
This coil uses two MOTs, current-limited, for 4kV at around 400mA.  The cap is homemade, aluminum foil and acetate overhead transparency sheets, cap set to .1 MFD.  The spark gap is a 2-series spark gap with 1/16" thick tungsten faces 3/4" in diameter, mounted to aluminum heat sinks.  Secondary is an 18" 4.5" diameter PVC form wound with 27 AWG.Details of the power supply are here:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2008/TeslaCoilTuner/index.htm
In addition to the 10A reactance coil, there is also a tapped reactance coil to limit the current to less than 10A for small coils...
 
Jeff
_________________________________________________________________
Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger.
http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_messenger_video_072008_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla