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Jonathan Dennis

Sun Nov 22 2009, 07:18AM

Registered Member #2153 Joined: Wed Jun 03 2009, 03:19PM
Location:
Posts: 69

For those of you that remember me, I attempted to build my first SG coil over the summer. Unfortunately I had inter-secondary corona... bad. The only explanation I have come up with is that the thin protective enamel on the wire was scraped off during the winding, which I did by hand. Fortunately, since the spool had major kinks, and I complained to the company, they sent me a new spool for free. Now that I am on Thanksgiving break from college, I'm redesigning my secondary (hopefully thats the real problem), and I want to do it right this time. I have no lathe, so I have to do it by hand, I have cotton gloves, any other recommendations? I'm using a 21" x 4" form. I'm rather dissapointed my first attempt turned out so poorly, but I'm 100% dedicated to getting it right, no matter how many attempts it takes. I'm ready to shake the cobwebs off this project and get the ball rolling again. Thanks for any suggestions.

Regards,
Jonathan

raff

Sun Nov 22 2009, 01:28PM

Registered Member #2315 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 02:35AM
Location: Leyte, PH
Posts: 161

what gauge# are you using? if it had to be #30 or #32, winding it by hand at 21" WOULD BE TEDIOUS.. I recommend you invest your time in making a simple winding jig, even w/o a motor is better than NOT having any at all...

Goodchild

Sun Nov 22 2009, 04:14PM

Registered Member #2292 Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795

You don't need a lathe to wind the secondary, I don't have a lathe and wind all my own secondarys and they come out grate!
All you need is a winding jig I built my jig from 2x4s, 12v power supply, motor, and a small wheel. I even mad a make shift foot
switch so that I could use both of my hands to work with the wire.

4096437509 Fcd3c63a3b

Check out my flikr page form more pics:

Happy Winding!

Killa-X

Sun Nov 22 2009, 05:02PM

Registered Member #1643 Joined: Mon Aug 18 2008, 06:10PM
Location:
Posts: 1039

Depends...I did both a 2 x 10", and 4.5 " 10" teslacoil, 32awg, by hand. I manage to do it just slightly over a hour, but it was very easy (to me) and i had not one problem....no overlaps, no breaks, etc. My way, was to put the coil on a rod, so it can free-spin...Then i used my left hand to turn, and right hand to guide..over time i got use to it and was coiling about 2-4" during commercial breaks, and yeah, didnt take long :D

If you do a motor, add a speed control....My non-speed control was a bad attempt :P

Goodchild

Sun Nov 22 2009, 05:19PM

Registered Member #2292 Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795

Killa-X wrote ...

If you do a motor, add a speed control....My non-speed control was a bad attempt :P

I don't use a speed control, my motor was just really geared down all I used for control of the motor was
a simple limit switch so that I could start and stop the motor with my foot. If you use an AC motor (like a drill)
then you can just use a variac to set the speed.

I should also note that I don't wind SGTC secondaries I do DRSSTC and SSTC so my secondaries don't have like 900
to 1000 turns they have more like 1800 to 2000.

Killa-X

Sun Nov 22 2009, 08:34PM

Registered Member #1643 Joined: Mon Aug 18 2008, 06:10PM
Location:
Posts: 1039

Yeah, And I dont fully do it right. I did my 2ft coil out of 24awg, the common "4.5 X 24, 24awg" coil. I didnt use any gloves at all, and so far i never had a tesla coil have any issues, but...Always best to do it anyways. I dont think i even cleaned the PVC :(

Just remember to multi-layer it with varnish though :D

Coronafix

Sun Nov 22 2009, 09:52PM

Registered Member #160 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938

I use a cordless drill powered by my variable power supply. Switch is built into a makeshift pedal.
Yesterday I wound a 1000 turn coil in about 5 min.

Jonathan Dennis

Mon Nov 23 2009, 06:51AM

Registered Member #2153 Joined: Wed Jun 03 2009, 03:19PM
Location:
Posts: 69

Hey guys thanks for the suggestions. I am using 28Gauge. Last time, I used a longer piece of pvc which went through the center of my form. I fixed it so that the form was suspended horizontally. I used one hand to spin the form, and the other to guide the wire. My sister held the spool and kept the tension. It looks nice enough, it has some tiny gaps, but those are from bends that were in the wire. Like I said the wire had kinks that caused some serious bends, so hopefully the company sent me a good spool this time. I don't really have the time or materials to even create a makeshift rig. To Goodchild, I like the rig your using, just don't have time to make my own :). BTW, are there any coilers in the Chattanooga TN area? Thanks.

Regards,
Jonathan

Goodchild

Mon Nov 23 2009, 10:04PM

Registered Member #2292 Joined: Fri Aug 14 2009, 05:33PM
Location: The Wild West AKA Arizona
Posts: 795

Jonathan Dennis wrote ...

To Goodchild, I like the rig your using, just don't have time to make my own :). Regards,

just so you know that jig only took me about an hour to make

Jonathan Dennis

Tue Nov 24 2009, 12:05AM

Registered Member #2153 Joined: Wed Jun 03 2009, 03:19PM
Location:
Posts: 69

You must be very good at building things then. I don't have wood, limited tools, no small motor, the list goes on. It's hard for me to build things :(. Eventually when I'm out of college I plan on getting a workshop. Then I'll be set :D. Thanks for you suggestion.

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