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Help me with my 1'st Tesla Coil [Small SSTC Based on Steve's Micro SSTC]

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yumcax

Fri Jan 29 2010, 07:07AM

Registered Member #2660 Joined: Fri Jan 29 2010, 06:48AM
Location:
Posts: 4

Hello, this is my first post on the forums, my name is Adam...
mod edit: And a poor start, winning Oversized Image Of The Year 2010.

I am trying to make a Tesla Coil for a Science Fair (May 3rd), and have gotten some help from users on the site instructables.com. Here is what I have so far:
small SSTC based on Steve's Micro SSTC.
Change the TC4420 for the UCC37322, which is available as a free sample from TI. (Other parts may be too?)
Modified ATX power supply for power
use a 12 volt power supply for the logic components but use more voltage (like 30 volts from a laptop charger) to power the main switching components

I have attached the original Micro SSTC diagram.
replaced with a link to the schematic by mod

I see that I will need some 28 AWG wire (1000'??), and something thicker for the primary. What is the best place to get wire? Im in Western USA.

As mentioned above, I have _no_ experience with tesla coils; I have done some soldering, and am comfortable building PCs.

What I really need help with is the basics- the stuff that you might leave out when helping someone, like power supplys, winding etc.. Are there any basic guides that would be useful? Believe me, i have googled =D.

Other than that... I cant think of much else, its late. Hi to everyone here =D.
EDIT: I have no idea how to downsize the pictures! Sorry!!!
P.S. in case anyone in wondering... I am 14 years old.
mod edit: would never have guessed :-6

uzzors2k

Fri Jan 29 2010, 01:08PM

Registered Member #95 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:57PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 1308

Hey Adam, welcome to the forum. For your first Tesla coil a SGTC might be a better idea, as the electronics are easier to understand and there are fewer components involved. There's a lot of knowledge on making Tesla coils that's considered elementary around here, so you'll need to read up and pose some specific questions, or it will be too vague for anyone to bother answering. If you want a basic guide you'll need to head down the SGTC route, there are several guides on making SGTCs on the web. Off the top of my mind:

You might want to start over at our wiki:

As for your current questions, Steve Ward's MicroSSTC is a good starting point for a SSTC, and about as simple as a flyback driver. Your gate driver substitution will absolutely work, as will the ATX supply for the logic. You can try a laptop supply for the main power, but I doubt it will like all the RFI from the coil. A car battery or similar is guaranteed to work and provide a reliable source of DC. You'll need about 30V before any decent streamers appear.

Regular hook-up wire for cars or speakers will work for the primary, but you need enameled copper wire for the secondary. I always scavenge wire so I'm not sure what kind of length you need, or where to get it. Ebay probably has some.

yumcax

Mon Feb 01 2010, 12:36AM

Registered Member #2660 Joined: Fri Jan 29 2010, 06:48AM
Location:
Posts: 4

Thanks for the reply, again, sorry about the pic. Is there any way to show thumb nails?

About the Tesla:
You are going to have to spoon feed this to me =D
On Steve's schematic, i only see one power input- 25VAC 2A.
A couple more things i am unsure of:
1) Is it okay, at least for the short term, to build this on a breadboard? If so, how large of a board will I need?
2) 30VDC from a lead acid? Most lead acid batterys are 12VDC.
3) The antenna. What should i use, how long should it be, etc.?

Thanks for the help so far =)

yumcax

Mon Feb 01 2010, 11:57PM

Registered Member #2660 Joined: Fri Jan 29 2010, 06:48AM
Location:
Posts: 4

mod edit-no double posting

dmg

Tue Feb 02 2010, 12:26AM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

I recomend that you read the site rules. (oversized signiture and double posting, bumping your thread to the top.)
the mods are going to get pissed at you if you keep this up.
Also, If you are going to build an SSTC and you have no experience beforehand with solid state electronics, its going to be a pain in the ass for you.

please do not build an SSTC running of rectified mains, if you have absolutely no experience, you will get yourself killed.
Like uzzors said, If you have no experience with tesla coils, its best if you start with a spark gaped tesla coil rather then solid state, it is much easier to tune, its less sensetive to mistakes and It will teach you plenty if you intend on building an SSTC.
and an SGTC doesn't require lots of math and oscillioscope tuning when compared to an SSTC.
if you do decide to go the trouble of building an SSTC, dont expect for a company to "sample" you all of the components, and If you make a mistake, you will most like fry said components.
and for the supply, look at the schematic: it says so on the transformer.
If you meant the input voltage, then it depends on the transformer (whether the primary is rated for 120 or 240)
as long as the secondary has the required output, you are okay.
and if you intend of running it from a battery, then omit the rectifier and build a battery bank to supply the proper voltage and amperage.
the antenna: you should get yourself a standard radio antenna (from those cheapo radio players) and mess with its mounting position and how close it is to the SSTC, never let it arc over though, or kiss your parts goodbye.

also, I'll asume you know how to use a perfboard, so for this being your first, I would say for you to get 2200 hole board
so you'll have plenty of space, but for an SSTC, I would advise to keep stray inductance to a minimum and make your wires and connections as short as possible.
personally, I would prefer to print a design onto copper clad and etch it.
considering you have plenty of time, If you do enough research, you might get this to run, but do not expect monster streamers shooting out of this design though.

also, do not rush this project If you are running out of time, rushing can mean making pointless mistakes, and those pointless mistakes can either screw your entire project, kill you, hurt others, destroy your supply, destroy your coil and pretty much anything else that can go wrong! (murphy's law).

also, it would help if you said what are you going to use this TC for?
does it have some purpose? (lighting fluorecent bulbs?)
or you just want a spark show?
BTW im 16. >:)

Steve Conner

Tue Feb 02 2010, 11:24AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

This thread breaks several forum rules.
We specifically forbid bumping, asking to be spoonfed, and so on.
(and yes, please remove that stupid oversized sig or the thread will be locked)

yumcax

Wed Feb 03 2010, 01:20AM

Registered Member #2660 Joined: Fri Jan 29 2010, 06:48AM
Location:
Posts: 4

S**t, I am sorry. i really have made a horrible impression. Can someone point me to the forum rules? I read "Site Rules". Now, say I went down the SGTC route... would an NST be suggested? Would it be needed for a small (Going for maybe 7 inches tall) TC?
Thanks,
-Adam

dmg

Wed Feb 03 2010, 01:33AM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

for a 7 inch tall coil, an NST is perfectly fine, for this small of a coil, you can also use oil burner ignition transformers, bug zapper transformers, all will work fine, considering NSTs have a decent amount of current limiting, you should be able to run an SGTC for a prolonged periods of time,
If you want to run an SGTC off a battery for your project, I would suggest you build a zero voltage switiching (ZVS) driver for a flyback transformer (aim for about 200-500W), and then rectify (if its not already) the output of the flyback to feed your standard tesla circuit.

either way you choose, you can still push some decent arcs through a coil like that, (personally I wouldn't use NSTs because they often require a filter on the HV side with a safty gap, NSTs are sensetive to overvoltage and kickback from the spark gap, and If you bought your NST brand new, then there goes money down the drain.)
if you are going to use an NST, use filtering on the secondary side, and try to get your hands on one for cheap or for free if possible. (bars sometimes dump them out back, and local dumps might have some.)

once you aquire your transformer of choice, I would test it out with the classic draw-an-arc-off-it approach, generally NSTs will not trip 15A breakers, and they dont heat up too badly, so I dont see a problem using them.
a filter though, like I said earlier, will prolong your NSTs life and probably prevent it from burning out.
also, dont touch the case of the NST

Herr Zapp

Wed Feb 03 2010, 04:08AM

Registered Member #480 Joined: Thu Jul 06 2006, 07:08PM
Location: North America
Posts: 644

yumcax -

What you'll find here is a lot of help when you really need it, but little patience if you want someone to hold your hand through the entire Tesla coil design, build and tune process. If you take some time to search the archives, you will find a number threads where first-time coil builders started from a point of complete ignorance, and ended up with beautifully-made, well-running coils. For instance, starting with his first post on June 4 2009, 'eniyuki' designed, built, and tuned a very clean, well-made spark gap coil that yielded excellent performance. Enter eniyuki in the search box, and start with his first post.

To build and successfully tune a coil, you really need to thoroughly understand the theory of operation. Still the world's best technical website is Richie Burnett's at:

There is a huge amount of information here; start with the sections covering the theory of operation, design, and construction of spark-gap Tesla coils. Once you have a good understanding of how and why a Tesla coil operates, use a design tool like JAVATC or WINTESLA to completely design your coil "on paper" before you start blindly buying parts. For a beginning spark-gap coil, the first bit of hardware to actually purchase should probably be the HV transformer, like a 12kV-30ma or 15kv-30ma neon sign transformer. For #28 AWG magnet wire, search eBay, or find a local electric-motor rewinding shop.

And, carefully read and understand the forum rules; they exist to help weed out the immature and grossly incompetent ......

Regards,
Herr Zapp

Good luck ......

teravolt

Thu Feb 04 2010, 05:45AM

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

i dont know your level of understanding of theas topics but

has good info and kits. i started with spark gap teslas. Adam I like your avatar he looks like he could eat a finger

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