On 4/2/12 5:21 AM, Phillip Slawinski wrote:
Jim, That's a very open-ended question. It's safe to say that price obviously scales with sparks. Also, it's important to note that price is also going to vary depending on how skilled you are at building them. For first timers there will be mistakes which make the cost go up. Finish quality also comes into play here. Obviously a hack-job is going to be a lot cheaper than something that is polished off. Personally, I find it hard to really quantify the price spent to create a coil. Usually I'm building a one-off, and I may go through several different renditions.
Likewise here.. but it's a question that gets asked periodically, and rather than leave potential questioners to the not so tender mercies of Information Unlimited, I thought, hey, why not ask the hive mind.
As you note, there's a huge effect from scrounging. There's a lot of people who just happen to have things like magnet wire, or the parts to make a static gap. Then, there's more specialized things.. I've always found that the HV transformer seems to be the least likely to be improvised.. it's something you just have to buy ready made, but even there, there's opportunities for scrounging (please Mr. Neon Sign Shop Owner, do you have old NSTs?) (in the days before this list, and the internet in general, that was a LOT harder.. now, there's a sort of established trade/market in used NSTs of varying qualities and provenance)
I do have one coil that I can break down the cost on (roughly). This particular coil is my DRSSTC V. I did get some of the parts on eBay, so if I were to buy the parts new from a distributor It would cost a little more. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pslawinski/4550187194/in/set-72157623355704761 $320 -- Toroids $225 -- Plastics w/ Machining $70 -- Copper tubing $70 -- IGBTS $10 -- Electrolytic Capcitor $40 -- Controller $40 -- Magnet Wire $80 -- Tank Cap $855 -- Total -Phillip Slawinski
yeah.. about a kilobuck in parts is sort of what I was thinking for a DRSSTC. You might be able to save on toroids by going the dryer vent hose, aluminum tape, and pie pan route (a classic trade time for money)
And a wrench in the works is sometimes shipping cost. Shipping an NST is a potentially expensive proposition.
_______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla