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RE: Beginner questions



Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau@xxxxxx>

For what wire to use, it depends...

Which part of the wiring are you referring to?  The wire in the tank
loop consisting of the main spark gap, primary coil, and tank cap need
to be considerably heavier than what connects the NST secondary to the
spark gap.  How heavy the tank loop should be depends on the power level
of the coil - is it an ultra-tiny, table-top, medium-sized NST, or
pig-powered?  12 gauge wire will be either adequate or overkill for any
but the largest pig-powered coil, although many use heavier cable just
'cause it seems like the right thing to do.  Having super-beefy cables
is probably less important than arranging parts for the shortest
possible interconnects.

For primary construction, an easy technique is to drill holes in the
cutting board and tie down the tubing thru the holes with nylon cable
ties.  Yes, a lot of ties and holes.

If you have access to or a friend in a machine shop, you can make a
Lexan comb support structure, as shown on
http://www.laushaus.com/tesla/primary.htm.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA




> Original poster: Tyler Pauly <rpggod714@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hello, I'm building my first coil. I have some
> questions that only need to be asked once. They are:
>
> 1. What do you use to connect the "parts - aka the
> capacitor, transformer, primary, etc.? Do you use
> house wire (12 gauge)?
>
> 2. Do you have any words of wisdom on constructing the
> primary? Mine will be 12 turns of .25 copper tubing
> held by HDPE cutting board. They start at 6" diam. to
> 17". I originally planned for 6 supports, but not only
> was it incredibly hard to "wind" it, but the glue
> holding the plastic to the board support gave out. I
> know glue wasn't the best idea, so I'm now routing
> ruts into my board to slip the strips of HDPE into.
> I'm kind of struggling. There's got to be an easier
> way to this. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks for the help,
> Tyler
>