beginner's coil?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Mike Wood by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <mike.wood-at-opennw-dot-com>

Hi

I've just got interested in tesla coiling (I like making stuff!) and I'm
kind of in the finding-out phase.  I wondered if anyone had any good plans
maybe suitable for a first coil?  I've been trailing round on the net and I
keep finding pages with pictures of 12' high secondaries and that kind of
thing - that's pretty cool but maybe not for my first try!

I managed to get hold of a 15kV neon supply.  Will this make a good supply
for my coil?  Some of the pages I've found keep talking about burning out
transformers (or otherwise generally rooting them) though - if it's ok to
use a NST what's my best bet for making sure I take care of it well enough
so it doesn't get pushed too hard and I get a good coiling lifetime out of
it?  (they're not easy to come by down here in NZ!)  If there's a particular
design that keeps this in mind then I'd be really interested.

Anyway, hope to hear from you inna bit.

Mike