[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: I give up!! I regret building my tesla coil!



Hi Garry,

Enjoyed your rant. Really. Been there a couple of times myself. I built my
first TC in 1975. Got a couple of thousand hours out of it, I'd guess. No
long sparks though, 6" max. Tried a few times in the mean time, nothing ever
worked very well, until I found the best source of information on the
construction of Tesla Coils there is, _THIS_LIST_. That was in the fall of
1997. Then in the early spring of 1998, I built my first successful coil. 9"
of spark from a 9KV 20mA NST powered coil. Everything that was used in that
coil was salvaged from junk just lying around the place. Total cost was a
box of salt and a quart of motor oil. About $2. Found an old web page on the
computer the other day, so I put it up at my site.
http://www.corridor-dot-net/deano/coil.htm True it doesn't look like much, but
it worked OK. The spark gap in the picture was just two brazing rods poked
into beer bottles with wine bottle corks, the brass rods were bent into "L"
shapes and the ends brought somewhat close together. I think it would have
worked as well if it had been made of cardboard instead of Plexiglas, and
the primary wound with 12AWG wire instead of copper tubing.

later,
deano


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2000 8:53 PM
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: I give up!! I regret building my tesla coil!
>
>
> Original poster: "Garry F." <garryfre-at-pacbell-dot-net>
>
> I have built tesla coils when I was in high school, in college
> and recently. My
> biggest problem was a continual burning out of the NST over and
> over because I
> could never understand the hieroglyphics that were presented to
> me instead of
> plain english as to how to build a choke to prevent feedback.
>
> Finally I get some plans from
> <http://www.sciencefirst-dot-com>www.sciencefirst-dot-com
> and I build according to their plans and it was supposed to
> produce 18" sparks
> but produced only one and a half inch sparks. The plate stack cap
> plans were
> defective, the dimensions of the coil was 1.5" by 40! This is the
> WOUND area!
>
> By fooling with it I eventually got sparks near 8" but the toriod
> had no break
> out at all. Well, being broke from buying a brand new NST for
> this and tools, I
> had to wait some weeks before I had some more money to spend (Waste).
>
> So, I spend more money and make another secondary and this turns
> out to be 3"
> by 24" using #29 magnet wire. Better, but not short enough. Still
> it produced
> nice 12" sparks easily. I am using a 9kv .2 MA NST and produced
> 14" streamers
> off the toroid..
>
> Ever being interested in improving the output, I tried various spark gap
> designs. One suggestion was use two rounded brass doorknobs in an
> air cooled
> system. The results were abysmal! Lousy 1" streamers off the
> toroid that were
> so sporatic, I could eat a sandwich between streamer appearances.
>
> I built a spark gap that was made of aluminum flashing rooled up
> at the ends to
> provide a make shift cooling fin design. This worked pretty well.
>
> Then I stated my design here and they said I almost had a
> Push-Pull circuit and
> I could have a true push-pull circuit if I added a grounded
> electrode in my
> spark gap letting both branches spark into this. I tried this.
> The results were
> again dismal. I tried retuning. It was HALF the output I had from
> the previous
> design.
>
> Then I tried that J. Quick spark gap design and the output from
> that was even
> worse!!
>
> So, I try to revert back to my rolled flashing air cooled design
> and no matter
> how much I fiddled, I did not get quite the output I had before I
> tried the
> push-pull thing.
>
> Then I heard that the electrodes should be absolutely flat and so
> I built one
> Thursday night and it was producing better sparks. Not like what
> I had before I
> tore it apart for the push-pull design, but close.
>
> The next morning, the spark gap would not fire reliably, so I
> took it apart and
> adjusted the gap smaller and I got lousy output of 2" streamers
> off the toroid.
>
> So, I buy some 1/4" refrigeration tubing and try another primary.
> It's amazing
> how difficult it is to wind this stuff. What a nightmare of kinking and
> tangling the likes of which I've never seen before!
> I finally get it built in a desparate hope that it will solve the lousy
> stinking results I am getting and I put it on and it absolutely
> stinks!!! The
> sparks are not steady, the sparks are half the thickness I expected!
>
> Then there are the caps. Mine are not soaked in oil. Maybe I
> should do this but
> I don't want to have to haul around two five gallon buckets of
> oil and a cap
> inside. That's like having a hearing aid the size of an ice-cream truck!
>
> Well, after trying the tubing, I and looking in disgust at $35
> worth of tubing
> and other stuff that was a waste of money, I realize I could have
> bought their
> 18" spark model NEW and all built from Information Unlimited for
> LESS! Sure it
> would have cost $499 but I've spent more than that already!
>
> I don't have a machine shop! I hadn't been busted financially for
> years but
> now, I can barely afford a soda! I do programming full time for a
> company that
> does financial reports and processes transactions.
>
> I didn't buy the one from information unlimited because I wanted
> the feeling of
> accomplishment but after three months of spend spend, all I managed to buy
> myself was weekend after weekend working in a sweaty back room,
> sick from not
> eating all day till 11PM because I got to get whatever failed modification
> finished and then when it doesn't give the expected results and I
> can't figure
> it out and I've tried everything I can think of I give up and
> revert only to
> find LESS results when I revert and wishing I hadn't tried the
> modification in
> the first place.
>
> So, here I sit, I possibly have spent $700 bucks and what do I
> got but a truck
> load of defeat!!
>
> Sorry for the rant, but I feel the need to warn those out there who are
> considering trying this fine hobby out, you better be prepared to spend
> thousands on tools and have a machine shop to make something that
> looks good
> and operates well and loads of money and a whole lot of luck and
> once you get
> one that seem to work to your satisfaction DON'T mess with it.
> Build another
> coil and keep the one you got. You might like me have to budget
> your buying for
> half a year but at least you won't mess up what you have.
>
> I've been working on this it seem forever, and what do I got to
> show for it?
> Some gain in knowledge and NO TESLA COIL AT ALL!! Every time I
> tried to modify
> it, I was sorry,
>
> I wish I had bought one pre-made from somewhere. Sure I couldn't
> say "I built
> it" but at least I'd have something to show instead of something
> that makes me
> sick at heart just to look at it!!
>
> Thanks for letting me blow off steam. I hope I got the sense to
> give up and not
> continue trying this but I have the feeling that I will just keep
> on trying to
> the injury of my wallet and my self respect!
>
>
>