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teslacoolguy

Wed Feb 06 2008, 04:55AM

Registered Member #1107 Joined: Thu Nov 08 2007, 10:09PM
Location:
Posts: 792

i thought it would be interesting to see how other people first got started in coiling and building big loud dangerous spark making machines

. I was inspired from my uncle who also built a coil when he was 14 and when he showed it to me it inspired me so much i did alot of research and now i have 4 flyback drivers including a zvs 2 sstc's, 3 sgtc's and i am working on a very small half bridge drsstc and a very large sgtc. I also am learning how to program PIC micros in basic and c. actually i might be wrong but i think being only 14 i am the youngest coiler PS. being homeschooled does help alot

...

Wed Feb 06 2008, 05:18AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

there have been several threads about this in the past...

come to mind

In any case, my first coil was a 3cc syringe wound with about 200 turns of #30 wire, with a 4 turn helical primary and a small mmc of little ceramic caps powered with the hv source out of a plasma globe rectified by a long string of uf4007 diodes. Made streamers about 1/2" long off 20w in

but I built it back before I had a camera

Wirenut

Wed Feb 06 2008, 10:30AM

Registered Member #141 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 01:14PM
Location: Southern California
Posts: 96

The first Tesla coil i ever saw was the one at the Griffith Park Observatory.

I was only about 10 years old, and I was amazed by it. About ten years later, I went back to the observatory for a laser show. I saw the coil again and I knew I wanted to build one. I had no knowledge of electricity at all, and the extremely simple Tesla coil schematic was utterly indecipherable to me. I decided to learn all I could about it, and I started reading up on Tesla. I read every book in the library about Tesla (Wizard was my fave) but none of it helped me figure out how to build a coil of my own.

After a few years of reading everything I could find on the internet (this was 8 years ago) and having it on the back burner of my mind, I finally understood enough to try to build one. My first coil was incredibly ugly. It was wound on a 3" dia. cardboard core of a roll of plastic sheeting with wire that was salvaged from a fluorescent lamp ballast. The ballast was potted in asphalt and the entire coil had black sticky asphalt residue all over it. The primary was wound ribbon style from insulated two-conductor 12ga outdoor "Malibu Light" wire. The wire was wound in a spiral on its edge with no spacing between turns on a piece of pegboard with fishing line holding the wire down. Tapping was done with a nail hammered through both conductors. I made the cap from PE painters drop cloth and al foil, and powered it with 2 mots. Sparkgap was two bolts in a piece of PVC pipe and a mini vacuum cleaner. Topload was two metal salad bowls. I got about 16" out of it and I was hooked.

I love showing my coils to people who have never seen or even heard of one before. They are so utterly amazed. Most people have never seen anything like a deafening four foot electrical arc only a few feet away. I wish I could say something like "And I love educating people about Tesla and the science behind how the coil works" but most people don't care AT ALL. They are just happy to watch a show, and don't want to hear about resonant frequencies or the invention of the induction motor. Showing off something that amazes people never seems to get old though.

guich

Wed Feb 06 2008, 11:11AM

Registered Member #1269 Joined: Sat Jan 26 2008, 06:22PM
Location:
Posts: 9

I was 13 when i built my first TC (sgtc). My brother told me that he saw a tc at school, I was so interested in it, so i also wanted to build one. Now IÂ´m 14 so youÂ´re not the youngest one teslacoolguy

teslacoolguy

Wed Feb 06 2008, 01:24PM

Registered Member #1107 Joined: Thu Nov 08 2007, 10:09PM
Location:
Posts: 792

well when i was 13 i built

but that just inspired me more but i did not have a coil working until i was 14 so yes you were the youngest coiler

teslacoolguy

Wed Feb 06 2008, 04:39PM

Registered Member #1107 Joined: Thu Nov 08 2007, 10:09PM
Location:
Posts: 792

... wrote ...

there have been several threads about this in the past...

but I built it back before I had a camera

my first coil was wound with tv yoke wire i think 26 awg on a 2" pvc pipe and a flyback to drive it i never got to good results so i did more research and wound another coil and now it workes quite well

CompWiz

Wed Feb 06 2008, 04:59PM

Registered Member #1038 Joined: Mon Oct 01 2007, 08:02PM
Location:
Posts: 96

I was searching Google for Van de Graff generators,
and there was a tesla coil on one site.

I wanted to build one but all the warnings about hv caps scared me(and mom said NO!).

So i just played with a portable CRT TV tried to make a Jacobs ladder(it didn't work, there was not enough power from that little tv).

Then I found a 14" computer monitor but its flyback had a built in cap, but I learned to use a insulated screwdriver to make sparks...

This was almost 3 years ago and I didn't start playing with hv until last year when noticed just how simple the single transistor flyback driver really is.

It did not take me long to get bored of the weak sparks it made(it made a better space heater...).

The fun started when I found the ZVS driver and learned to NEVER touch high voltage!

I built a small tesla coil 3 days ago, it made about 2cm of corona (i don't think the cap was big enough).

I just built a party cup cap and I am going to try that,
but I don't think it will last long (it flashes with corona when it charges).

guich

Wed Feb 06 2008, 05:31PM

Registered Member #1269 Joined: Sat Jan 26 2008, 06:22PM
Location:
Posts: 9

i wound my first sec with a the sec of a mot

teslacoolguy

Wed Feb 06 2008, 07:21PM

Registered Member #1107 Joined: Thu Nov 08 2007, 10:09PM
Location:
Posts: 792

CompWiz wrote ...

I just built a party cup cap and I am going to try that,
but I don't think it will last long (it flashes with corona when it charges).

try submerging the party cup cap in motor or mineral oil either should work and that should solve all your corona problems

Conundrum

Wed Feb 06 2008, 07:52PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

guich wrote ...

i wound my first sec with a the sec of a mot

I'll take your MOT and raise you a clock motor. That worked pretty well on the third attempt at 2am

1300+ turns on a 6" former. Yes that worked, though I nearly got stunned painfully by my annoying parents "What the hell are you doing out in the shed at this time ??!!!!!!" lol

-A

btw i thoroughly recommend the use of a winding jig, preferably automated. It sucks winding this many turns manually.

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