Re: Coil costs $0.00? and $,$$$,$$$+++?

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

Original poster: "G by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bog-at-cinci.rr-dot-com>

This tale reminds me of a Christmas coiling story I read long ago on 
someone's web site. Where might I look to find that story? Even 
better, post it :)

Gregory

ps- I have not made a coil for less than $100.

>
>>  I know many have made coils for very little money and, of course, you can
>>  spend tons of cash on them too.  However, has anyone ever made a coil that
>>  they didn't buy anything for?  I mean, you found all the parts and such for
>>  free and didn't even buy glue or buy anything on it.  In other words, a
>>  truly "free" coil?
>
>     It's certainly possible to make a low cost tesla coil.  Almost 
>anything you
>can buy, you can get for free if you look hard enough.  However, no coil is
>free, because it takes gas to scrounge.  I suppose if one was on a bike that
>problem would be solved.  The main problem would be the capacitor.  Even glass
>plate capacitors require some money to buy the glass, or the aluminum foil, if
>the glass happens to be free.
>     If I were to put together a mostly free coil, I would do it this 
>way: (this
>is not an autobiography)
>     1.  Salvage an NST from a local sign shop, (rare these days) or salvage a
>couple of mots and their attendant capacitors and diodes from abandoned
>microwave ovens at repair shops.  When the sign shop or microwave oven repair
>shop cautions that transformers can be deadly, confidently assure 
>them that you
>know what you are doing.
>     2.  Salvage the magnet wire from abandoned TV's at a TV repair shop.
>     3.  Ask a local grocery store to donate 8-15 HDPE frosting buckets, which
>the bakery has left over.  When the girl from school asks you what you are
>doing with all those buckets, stammer something about helping your mother with
>yard work.
>     4.  ask a neighbor if you can borrow some aluminum foil.
>     5.  Construct Friar Tom's hdpe bucket-cap, but don't bother with the oil
>immersion.
>     Or, alternatively, collect beer bottles and make a Geek cap, 
>using sea salt
>which you borrowed from the aforementioned neighbor.  When the neighbor asks
>why you can't afford salt, mention that in the Middle East and North Africa,
>salt was considered more valuable than gold.  Use the moment of confusion to
>escape.
>    6.  steal a giant Sonotube from a construction project (just kidding)
>    7.  Ask a local hardware store to donate scrap lengths of PVC. 
>Mention that
>you'll send pictures.  Don't worry, they know you won't follow through.
>     8.  make the spark gap out of salvaged bolts, or find some welding shop
>willing to donate welding rods, or find a hardware store willing to donate
>copper pipe.  Or, make a rotary spark gap with thumbtacks taken from 
>your dad's
>office, and the fan and fan motor from the microwave ovens you dismantled.
>(Don't expect the latter to work at all)
>     9.  Build your tesla coil, and pay yourself nothing.  Fire it 
>up, and watch
>it not work.  Destroy it in frustration, screaming at the top of your lungs:
>     "Aaaaaaauuuggh!!!!!   My Genius has been foiled by the Darwininnyan
>machinations of the capitalist system!"
>     10.  Grab your NST by the insulators and hurl it out the window.
>     9.  After being electrocuted, convince everyone that all you 
>need is a hole
>in the ground, and that emergency room, embalming and burial costs should be
>overlooked. (unlikely)
>     10.  Have fun with your kludged together TC!
>
>                 --Mike