Re: New bipolar

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

Original poster: "John Richardson" <jprich-at-up-dot-net> 

Hi Dave,

That is a beautiful coil!  A person never knows what will show up on e-Bay.

I appreciate your offer to check wire size, etc., but I'm just trying to get
some ideas buy looking at what others have got.

If that coil has got anti-gravity properties, I may have to make a bunch of
copies and strap them to some of the blind dates I've been set up with
lately.  All I can say is WOW!

Thanks again,

John Richardson
 > Hi John,
 >
 > If you really want to build an authentic Nikola Tesla bipolar coil, check
 > out this coil on one of my pages.  The coil itself belonged to Nikola
Tesla.
 >
 > http://www.tesla-coil-builder-dot-com/double_cone_bipolar_tesla_coil.htm
 >
 > It is wound on a plywood form.  The plywood form is made by cutting
circles
 > of decreasing diameter and stacking them, then turning the whole unit on a
 > lathe.  Each cone is 6" across the base and 6" in height.  The wire is a
 > cotton twill over solid copper wire.  The wire appears to be between 20
and
 > 16 gauge.  I'll mic it if you need it.
 >
 > The history of this coil is that an FBI agent passed away and some guy
 > bought it from his estate.  That guy sold it on eBay.  The other bidder I
 > was bidding against (I didn't know it at the time) had the empty forms for
 > this coil already made up.  His father received the form pattern directly
 > from Nikola Tesla.  He was bidding on the coil so he wouldn't have to wind
 > the forms he has.
 >
 > I examined the materials of this coil carefully and they do fit in with
 > early 1900 construction.  I first thought the plywood construction
indicated
 > that it was from the 40s or 50s.  Then I found out that plywood was
invented
 > over 1000 years ago by the Chinese.  From my experience in dealing with
 > antiques, I could tell the patina on the copper primary was genuine (I had
 > to replace it with new copper because it was kinked in several places -
but
 > I still have the original).  The cotton covered secondary wire was Tesla's
 > secondary wire of choice for small coils.  The patina on the end screws
and
 > plywood are also genuine.
 >
 > Because this coil was obtained from the estate of an FBI agent, I have
 > wondered whether the FBI agents divvied up some of Tesla's personal
effects
 > after they searched his room?  That, in itself, would be an interesting
 > revelation.
 >
 > Oh, yes.  The guy I was bidding against told me the coil is supposed to
have
 > antigravity properties.  If it does, they are minute.  I put the coil on a
 > regular household foot scale while running it.  The scale did change
 > slightly when I started the coil, but the change was so slight I chalked
it
 > up to electromagnetic force.  The scale I used was made entirely of a
 > ferrous metal.
 >
 > Dave
 >
 >  > -----Original Message-----
 >  > From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
 >  > Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 3:36 AM
 >  > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
 >  > Subject: New bipolar
 >  >
 >  >
 >  > Original poster: "John Richardson" <jprich-at-up-dot-net>
 >  >
 >  > Hi,
 >  >
 >  > Just would like to run this past anyone who has built a bipolar, and
see
 >  > what they think.  I've never built one, and am open to advice.  Killing
 >  > time until I can run the big TC outside!
 >  >
 >  > Lately I've been into building small TCs, and would like to keep the
guts
 >  > for this one in an 8" by 12" enclosure, with the only external item,
 >  > excluding primary and secondary, being the gap.
 >  >
 >  > Secondary:  12 inches of #32 heavy build.
 >  > Primary:  1/8" soft Cu tubing, turns to be determined with scrap
 >  > wire after
 >  > assembled before made permanent.
 >  > Cap:  MMC array, out of .15 CD 942s, close as I can get to .0133.
 >  > Trans:  The smallest and cutest little 9/30 on the planet.
 >  > Gap:  3 or 4 gap tungsten.
 >  >
 >  > Even though the trans is small, space in my chosen enclosure size will
 >  > still be limited, so I plan to run the MMC bank in an equidrive
 >  > arrangement.  Are there any inherent disadvantages to this?  And, after
I
 >  > determine the number of capacitors required, and if that amount is odd
 >  > instead of even, can there be an even number on one side and an
 >  > odd number
 >  > on the other?  I wouldn't think this would matter, but I've learned to
 >  > expect the unexpected with these things.
 >  >
 >  > Lastly, there seems to be limited sites with bipolars, so if anyone has
a
 >  > link, I would appreciate it.
 >  >
 >  > Thanks as usual,
 >  >
 >  > John Richardson
 >
 >