I have to respectfully disagree to the sentiment of sizing a toroid to the
size of the secondary. A secondary coil is usually sized arbitrarily by
most builders, and as such sizing the top load to it results in an
arbitrary size. Instead I think it is better to size according to input
power, which is sort of the ultimate "given" variable in a Tesla coil
system. The exception to this would be if you actually sized your
secondary dimensions to give spark length = secondary length * 2.5 (or some
other number) which in my systems results in a rather huge looking top
load, or several smaller ones. In my opinion most coils on the internet
have WAY too small a top load, or way too big a secondary, (the problem
with the latter being unnecessary increased cost of materials). In the end
it doesn't really matter though I suppose, you can always keep adding or
adjusting top loads until you get the optimum C, the little tweaks are half
the fun of building!
Scott Bogard.
On Tue, Jul 29, 2014 at 10:43 AM, Brandon Garretson <garretsontech@xxxxxxxxx
> wrote:
> "size your toroid to about the same dimensions as your secondary coil form"
>
> Im totally with David on this one, if you like to keep your life simple
> anyway.
> If you find you can use a little more capacitance you can do like I did and
> add a smaller toroid directly under your large one. I have a 4"x~24"
> secondary. I added a 3x10 spun toroid under my 4x24 home-made and it let me
> tune out the primary a little further, get somewhat longer sparks and
> completely eliminated strikes to the primary.
> Its much easier to add capacitance than it is to subtract.
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