RE: I'm a newbie coiler!- apartment coiling

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Steve Conner <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Zooch, welcome to Tesla coiling!

> My best suggestion is to
> either focus on a small minicoil (very satisfying IMO), or find a friend
> with a house and run it there.

I totally agree with that. I've built six Tesla coils over the years 
ranging from a mini coil that throws 6" sparks, up to a big lump 
almost as tall as me that shoots 6' sparks. I find that the time I 
spend playing with them is about in inverse proportion to the size :( 
The bigger ones are all dismantled just now, since I don't have 
anywhere to run them.

Solid-state coils (coils that use an electronic high frequency 
generator running directly off the AC line, instead of a HV 
transformer and spark gap) are great for apartment dwellers. Having 
no spark gap means that they cause very little radio and TV 
interference, and they can be designed to be quiet acoustically too. 
A classic Tesla coil can be loud enough to make you want earplugs.

But SSTCs are a good deal more complicated to build and troubleshoot 
than classic coils, and it can all be very frustrating unless you 
have some experience with electronics. I have seen people use ferrite 
ring chokes on the wires leading from the spark gap electrodes to 
quieten the radio interference from classic coils, and I think that 
is a great solution for apartment coils.

My favourite coil so far is my DRSSTC which is about the biggest coil 
I would dare to run in my apartment. The only drawback I found is 
that it makes a deafening noise that would drive my neighbours crazy 
if I ran it for long periods. But a quick blast now and again seems 
not to cause any trouble. I don't know how much RFI it generates, but 
it has never damaged any of my own collection of electronic toys.

http://www.scopeboy.com/tesla/drsstc/sparks/spark0611.jpg
"Biggest Spark Ever In My Apartment" -about 40"- the length is 
limited by the size of the table

Steve Conner
http://www.scopeboy.com/