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

["Luc" <ludev-at-videotron.ca> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi

Please don't discourage yourself.

I just want to put my two cents , you don't need to put a lot of money to
have a
working coil. One day when I was visiting a friend far from home in a small
city
far from big center, he ask me if we can build a coil: I decide to give a try .
I will describe the process; first  we find an electric motor shop and buy
a end
of spool of 24.5 awg wire for $5.00 CAN, find 25' of copper tubing at the
general store $10.00 , find a oil burner tranfo 10 KV 23 ma for free, find a
piece of PVC 3.25" free again and find in the neighbor city an electronic
repair
store a stock of 200 .016mf 1200vdc polyester cap for $20.00 ( $0.10  each ) we
use a broke fan motor and a plastic plate to make a RSG and finally 2 soup
serving spoon glue   together for the terminal . We manage to wind 10" of coil
with the wire we have and use 4 coat of shellac. My friend have some piece of
plastic on his basement. That all we need to build an ugly and cheap coil .

I build this coil a year ago and at my surprise it's still working, he run it
only for short run but regularly.

See the caps at:
 http://pages.infinit-dot-net/luc2/mylar_mmc.jpg
and a video at:
 http://pages.infinit-dot-net/luc2/cheap_coil.mov

Not to bad for a cheap design!

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com
>
> In a message dated 8/20/00 7:14:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> writes:
>
> Garry,
>
> I hear you, and I can understand your frustration.  It seems to me
> that things just went horribly wrong for you from the get go.  If you
> want to continue the hobby, I think you'll have to start with a clean
> slate... a fresh new viewpoint, and forget the past.... and think of
> a shining future.... with perfect success, and large beautiful sparks,
> achieved at low cost, and minimal stuggling.  Many are achieving
> this kind of success every day on the list.  Yes, I know it's hard
> to believe it, but it's true, and you too can join the ranks of expert
> coilers.  Have faith, and NEVER give up due to frustration.
>
> Cheers,
> John Freau
> --
>
> >
> >  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!
> >