Tesla Coil Build Thread

[ped]

Loving the green wire on the secondary Polonium.

Those psu cases have a multitude of uses

Great work.

 

[Down with Umbrella]

I prefer the green enamel. To me it's more aesthetically pleasing

However if you remember when we were discussing the construction of the secondary I miscalculated the length. I was short almost amost 2 inches from my target goal.

I have decided to order new 24awg wire(3.5pound roll) and build a new secondary altogether. I have all the pvc anyways and access to a lathe. Color will be red. Ahh I didn't want it to come to this but I think I might suck it up and do it. It might prevent the racing sparks issue or replace my already damaged secondary.

 

[Sigurthr]

Yeah, sometimes it's better to start over than trying to revive a failing part.

Remember to plug in your primary resonance range (max and min turns w/ your mmc) to see what target length you need for the secondary.

 

[ped]

However if you remember when we were discussing the construction of the secondary ...

I'll get me coat.

/doorslam.

 

[Sigurthr]

Pull up a chair and stay a while, Ped, good company is always welcome, and we have plenty of fresh ozone and NOx to go around!

 

[Down with Umbrella]

I only wish some day I could build a tesla coil on poloniums level, that thing is a work of art. Many in this thread are.

Ya sigurthr, I'm going to return to the drawing board and re calculate some values.

 

[LtKernelPanic]

I noticed today my card was charged for my extras from OneTesla's kickstarter from months ago so hopefully my Tiny Tesla will show up sooner than later.

 

[USAbro]

It's easy to build a tesla coil like poloniums. First your gonna need about $50k. Then your going to need a lot of slave labor electrical engineers...........jk

@DWU-So it does or doesn't work? The road salt I mean.

 

[Down with Umbrella]

My coil is not dead, I made a few errors when I did some calculations and over looked a few things. This whole tuning process has been tricky because there are so many variables. By lowering my tap point on my primary from 11 to 8.5 the racing Sparks stopped but my streams are not nearly as long. I'm working on it a few hours a week. I might even build a new secondary with about 76 more turns.

I ordered a professionally spun toroid because my homemade toroid was great to start with but not perfect. When the toroid is in I will post more videos.

Road salt? Is that what everyone uses? Maybe I don't know but in rock salt aren't there other minerals present? I wonder if this is beneficial or not. Hm. I want to build a salt water cap just to say I did.

I noticed today my card was charged for my extras from OneTesla's kickstarter from months ago so hopefully my Tiny Tesla will show up sooner than later.

I hope your kit ships soon, maybe give them a call. Keep us updated

 

[LtKernelPanic]

Sadly I think I'm in the last round of backers so I doubt I'll see it for another month or so. The first round is supposed to ship mid-month last I heard. I'm looking forward to it though. I've wanted to build a coil for a long time and a bigger coil like ones in this thread are too big for where I'm currently living and I figured building a smaller kit would be a better option for a noob coiler like me.

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Road salt? Is that what everyone uses? Maybe I don't know but in rock salt aren't there other minerals present? I wonder if this is beneficial or not. Hm. I want to build a salt water cap just to say I did.

It is mostly sodium, calcium, or magnesium
chloride, but will vary in purity. The
contaminants can be minerals and dirt, but
it doesn't matter too much. I would avoid
calcium chloride if you can. It is much
better at aiding corrosion than the
others. Softener salt is more pure, but it
hardly matters at kilohertz and megahertz
frequencies. Just use whatever is the
cheapest and most readily available in your
area.

 

[Down with Umbrella]

Sadly I think I'm in the last round of backers so I doubt I'll see it for another month or so. The first round is supposed to ship mid-month last I heard. I'm looking forward to it though. I've wanted to build a coil for a long time and a bigger coil like ones in this thread are too big for where I'm currently living and I figured building a smaller kit would be a better option for a noob coiler like me.

I'm glad to hear you went with the tiny tesla, it was recommended to me that the Onetesla DRSSTC was not the best choice because it had a few design flaws that ate expensive silicon components. Again, just what I heard. But I, like yourself will be interested soon in a SSTC and because of location I won't be able to run my big coil. I hope you get it soon! Something to look forward to at least.

It is mostly sodium, calcium, or magnesium
chloride, but will vary in purity. The
contaminants can be minerals and dirt, but
it doesn't matter too much. I would avoid
calcium chloride if you can. It is much
better at aiding corrosion than the
others. Softener salt is more pure, but it
hardly matters at kilohertz and megahertz
frequencies. Just use whatever is the
cheapest and most readily available in your
area.

I suspected water softener salt would be a more pure alternative. I have a few bags in the basement but like you said it's not cheap. It might actually take longer to dissolve. Rock salt it is! Thanks lightning stalker, good information I was interested in.

 

[Polonium210]

I am curious to see this tinyTesla.

The only real problem with the oneTesla is the lack of over current detection.

This coil, if tuned right, can produce ground strikes and with no over current detection it tends to pop silicon like crazy.

 

[Down with Umbrella]

Has anyone else seen this GIANT Russian tesla coil station? This thing is incredible. Apologies if it's already been posted.
9/08/2014 ? Giant Russian Tesla Tower fully operational again ? Cold War v2.0 | Dutchsinse

 

[Sigurthr]

I remember seeing some old footage of that, yup!

There's a russian group on 4HV that recently made a 75kW DRSSTC in an old aircraft hanger. It too was mighty impressive (given that it is solid state!).

 

[LtKernelPanic]

I can't wait for the guys over at The Geek Group to rebuild their coils that were damaged in the fire last year but sadly they probably won't get started on them until fall at the earliest.

Also looks like the folks at oneTesla will be posting detailed timeline for the shipping of the various rounds/rewards tomorrow.