Re: [TCML] My first Tesla coil

["DC Cox" <resonance@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you fire me an off-list email I can send you some plans/data for a nice
coil that will work without problems.

It uses modern MMC "snubber" caps that are rated for high dV/dt unlike your
DC filter caps.  They won't explode.

Welcome to the list.

Dr. Resonance




On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 1:40 PM, stamsund <stamsund@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I built a Tesla coil back in the early sixties based somewhat loosely on a
> 1964 article in Popular Electronics.  The secondary was a phenolic tube 5 ½
> inches in diameter and approximately 36 inches high, coiled with 24 gauge
> enameled wire.  The primary was wound with poorly insulated #10 wire.  I
> used (4) WW2 surplus US Navy electrolytic DC Capacitors loaded with PCB .
>  They were 25KV cans approximately 5"X14"wideX15'high and weighed at least
> 40 lbs each.  I used a crude spark gap fashioned from heavy copper wire.  I
> set up the coil in a large garage and when I powered it up it roared and
> sputtered and lit up all the fluorescent light fixtures in the building.  My
> friends were dumfounded at my genius and referred to me as the neighborhood
> mad scientist.
>
>
>
> The man who owned the local military electronic surplus store, who sold me
> the capacitors listened to my ramblings about the fantastic display and gave
> me dire warnings about the possibility that the capacitors might explode
> from the way I was using them.  I then built a shielded cage from heavy
> plywood and acrylic windows so I could observe the phenomenon with some
> degree of safety, not realizing that had the capacitors exploded, the cage
> would most likely be shattered and PCB laden shrapnel would be everywhere
> including imbedded in yours truly.
>
>
>
> Fortunately, the primary coil shorted and caught fire and the experiment
> ended.
>
> I still have the secondary coil and the NST.  "Unfortunately", the
> capacitors have been recycled as hazardous waste.
>
>
>
> I'm now much older and wiser and much, much more cautious.  I'm planning to
> build another coil using scientific methods and advice from experts like
> those on this board.  But like that foolish youth many years ago I'm still
> fascinated by Nicholas Tesla and his profound and prophetic genius.
>
>
>
> Rob Robertsen, KA7YAK
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