Tesla Coil Build Thread

[Fiddy]

thanks Sigurthr!

So this would be more ideal?

 

[Sigurthr]

Yep, that's how you do it!

Keep in mind SG's are lossy so depending on how much power you can pump through the iggy you may not achieve streamers from the secondary output. If you can get around 100W through it you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a nice output though. I've done this exact setup with a ZVS driver and with a regular flyback driver before. Both were a bitch to set up because the SG had to be set up for <10kV OCV, which is a nightmare to adjust.

 

[Fiddy]

I see, i think my coil will provide more than enough votlage, but im not sure if it will carry much current.

heres the thing running:

 

[Sigurthr]

Worst thing that'll happen is you'll get wispy purple streamers, they look cool too IMO just harder to see. Remember hearing protection when firing any SGTC!

 

[Fiddy]

ill be happy if i get some sort of streamers lol

i can replace the ignition coil with a aftermarket higher current unit too

they bought out a new version of the drive which is now IGBT driven and has a frequency and dwell time pot for adjusting the pulse to the coil, this might come in handy when i build it.

Im tuning the coil to run at around 280kHz, any reason why thats a bad choice?

 

[Sigurthr]

280KHz sounds fine. The only real limiter on resonant frequency is materials available, which for solid state coils also includes calculating the switching time of the transistors involved, and even that can be pushed to extremes.

Btw, if I can figure out how to do the PCB layout I'll be doing a run of my very own universal SSTC driver design. My driver is self-tuning from 50KHz to over 4MHz, self-starting, and will drive pretty beefy FETs/IGBTs. Minimal parts count and is as simple as populate, solder, attach bridge, and go. No fiddling what-so-ever. I'll probably use ExpressPCB because I have a lot of experience with ExpressSCH, but I've never used ExpressPCB itself (service or software). Only part I am iffy on is doing a second layer. I'm sure I can manage a single layer board but I would need to make sure the vias all work and the ground planes can be formed right.

If anyone has any tips or info on the CAD aspect of PCB design I would appreciate it greatly. Hell, if you design the PCB for me you get a board free shipped to you.

 

[Fiddy]

Sweet! ill the part i need now.

I use eagle from making my pcb's so i dont know if youd want the boards in eagle format

 

[Sigurthr]

Is that you saying you'd be interested in designing the PCB for me? Hehe.

I wish I learned eagle but never had the opportunity. I tried downloading the free software a few years back but couldn't make heads or tails of it. I'm sure I'd have tons of options for a manufacturing company if I used eagle format cad, probably be cheaper than expressPCB too (which is like $45/board).

I've got to make a few revisions to the schematic in the next few days to put on paper (1s and 0s) what's locked up in the old grey matter. After that I can send a copy your way. You're free to build from it anytime, even if ya decide not to do the PCB cad.

 

[Fiddy]

i can give it a go on eagle if you wish, id need to know component sizes and such!

 

[Sigurthr]

Awesome! Ya, I'll throw together a digikey BOM so all the sizes can be pulled up.

 

[Fiddy]

too easy

 

[Speedy78]

I would like one once complete

 

[Fiddy]

haha im going to base it on my plasma speaker dimensions so i can use the coil forms i currently have. will be using a helical primary.

 

[Sigurthr]

No problem, Speedy! Hopefully the board production cost isn't very high and I can crank these out for people. I don't think I'll be able to sell populated/completed boards as I don't have the capitol to invest in the BOM, but it should hopefully beat EVR's $90 bare board.

 

[benmwv]

Going to post these board files and bom open source? Im interested in building one.

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Yeah, same. I have some 50A IGBT just sitting around doing nothing.