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LAN_403

Chip Fixes

Thu Dec 01 2011, 09:58PM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Well my friend and I are dressing up as Skyrim (

) characters one day for school because it's our last year of high school and why not?

Anyway I'm going as a mage in dragon scale armor (

) with sparks equipped:

The first step of my project is to make the sparks that appear from the hands. I was thinking about making a tesla coil where I could slide the secondary tube over my forearm. Then insulate the output and poke it through the palm of a glove so that only like 1/4" of wire is exposed. The glove would probably have to be rubber to prevent it from discharging right to my hand, correct? I have never built a tesla coil before but I've done some research over the past few months.

Sorry this is really vague but I just want to know if this is possible before I go and build it all. Now for specs:
- The smallest diameter that the tube could be and still be able to fit over my forearm is 4" and I would like to keep it under 10" in length.
- It would be wonderful if I could get 15" sparks from it but I think the size of the secondary will limit the output..? Also, it cannot be lethal when the spark is touched! (A minor shock is fine though)
- I'm planning to power it all off of a small 12v SLA battery or several rechargeable 9.6v RC batteries:

Is this at all possible?

Thomas W

Thu Dec 01 2011, 10:46PM

Registered Member #3324 Joined: Sun Oct 17 2010, 06:57PM
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Posts: 1276

sounds cool and dangerous :P

ScotchTapeLord

Fri Dec 02 2011, 02:15AM

Registered Member #1875 Joined: Sun Dec 21 2008, 06:36PM
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Posts: 635

The reason for making secondary coils long is so that there is a lot of isolation between the high voltage and ground using air as an insulator (that won't degrade from breakdown). By putting a nice conductive arm through it, you really lose the benefit of the coil's dimensions.

I think a flyback transformer or similar HFHV transformer would be a better idea. Not a good idea, but a better one!

Over a foot of spark, though? I wouldn't trust any homebrew insulator to protect me of a potential capable of eating through over a foot of nitrogen. I'd settle for a blue glow from my hands... and the corona from that will still slowly eat through whatever you're using to protect yourself.

teravolt

Fri Dec 02 2011, 02:37AM

Registered Member #195 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 08:27PM
Location: Berkeley, ca.
Posts: 1111

this is about the best I've seen for tesla wepon. maby if it was a QCW it would be cooler

Chip Fixes

Fri Dec 02 2011, 03:52AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
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Posts: 701

Alright, back to the drawing board...

Chip Fixes

Sat Dec 03 2011, 06:42AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

ScotchTapeLord wrote ...

The reason for making secondary coils long is so that there is a lot of isolation between the high voltage and ground using air as an insulator (that won't degrade from breakdown). By putting a nice conductive arm through it, you really lose the benefit of the coil's dimensions.

I think a flyback transformer or similar HFHV transformer would be a better idea. Not a good idea, but a better one!

Over a foot of spark, though? I wouldn't trust any homebrew insulator to protect me of a potential capable of eating through over a foot of nitrogen. I'd settle for a blue glow from my hands... and the corona from that will still slowly eat through whatever you're using to protect yourself.

Alright so I did some browsing and here's a manageable TC that has decent output:

and can the conductive arm be compensated for by altering the dimensions of the secondary? I would be fine with sparks the size of the coil I linked to above. I'm not too worried about the insulator breaking down as it only needs to work for 1 school day. The other option I thought of was putting the Tesla coil on my back where there would not be a conductive arm, etc going through it. And then running a salvaged (or homemade) high-tension lead from the output of the secondary to my arm. the skin effect would be horrendous; but I would be ok with that as long as it worked. Thoughts?

M.A.D.

Sun Dec 04 2011, 05:16AM

Registered Member #4052 Joined: Thu Aug 11 2011, 04:43AM
Location: IN ,USA
Posts: 69

You could run wires to conductive spikes on your hands our something, however you would still have to insulate all of the HV parts from your skin which would require about half a foot of insulation on the wires and your hand. Also the picture that you posted is of a SGTC which is probably the most dangerous type of coil to wear.

Would it kill the look that you are going for if the secondary extended beyond the end of your arm? You could make the secondaries into ''arm extensions'' and put a metal hand on the end. If you used reasonably short secondaries and disguised it well it would probably be hard to tell that it was not your real hand, after all lightning tends to distract people.

I would however advise you to be extremely carefull, because insulation used on tesla coils tends to fail very quickly and without warning.

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