Tesla Coil Build Thread

[USAbro]

Is my secondary tall enough? It's 13 inches 28awg wire around a 2" pvc pipe.

Am I worrying to much? Like will it make streamers when I wire it up, or do you think it will really be out of tune? And is my primary big enough?

Here are the images. I made a little breakout point.

 

[Sigurthr]

Rough rule of thumb is 1ft of arc per 500W.

Not sure where you got that from.

For SGTCs in the 50-500KHz range it's sqrt(watts) for estimated maximum streamer length.

Best I ever did was 17" from 225Watts.


USAbro you are worrying too much! You WILL need to tune it. Most first timers are way out of tune.

 

[USAbro]

Okay, but are the coils too small in proportion and should the will the primary work with the number of turns it has on it?

It just looks like it is rough, the bottom of the secondary wire is and inch from the the bottom of the pvc pipe. It is a little crooked. It is gorilla glued to the plastic. I don't have a good ground (wall outlet). All these things make me feel uneasy, like all the minor errors add up, and it might not work at all.


And now I'm dying for a transformer. It's ready to be fired up now!

 

[nospin]

Okay, but are the coils too small in proportion and should the will the primary work with the number of turns it has on it?

It just looks like it is rough, the bottom of the secondary wire is and inch from the the bottom of the pvc pipe. It is a little crooked. It is gorilla glued to the plastic. I don't have a good ground (wall outlet). All these things make me feel uneasy, like all the minor errors add up, and it might not work at all.


And now I'm dying for a transformer. It's ready to be fired up now!

You need to learn javatc and input you specifics its free and it can answer all your questions

cap size, primary turns, toroid size

and transformer size is a huge factor
6000x30=180 watts
15000x30=450 watts!

 

[USAbro]

So..........your saying a 6kv might now work well?

 

[nospin]

So..........your saying a 6kv might now work well?

If you want big results don't get a small transformer

 

[USAbro]

Today I placed a bit on a 9kv 30ma NST on ebay. There were no bids so hopefully I get it. There is one day of bidding left. It was $20 with $15 shipping.
270 watts of power. Is that enough?

 

[Sigurthr]

Yep. I usually say 225W is a good minimum for a SGTC.

 

[USAbro]

Oh crap, I never sanded off the lettering or coated the pvc pipe on the secondary. Is this a big problem? Crap crap crap and more crap.

 

[Sigurthr]

Not really a problem for sub-kW class SGTCs if you coat the winding with polyurethane after it's finished.

 

[USAbro]

I used spar urathane for that coil, and then when I built my slayer exciter, I had polyurethane, so I used that. But spar urethane for my secondary.

 

[USAbro]

Only 11 minutes left on the bid, I hope I win!!!!!!!

 

[USAbro]

I won the bid everyone! That means I got my self a NST!
It says it is 9kv 30ma and it ended up being ~$40 with shipping. It's coming from CA so it may take some time, but they estimated 1-2 weeks.

So is 270va enough?

 

[nospin]

Good score

Is it enough?
It will get you going!

Fun is fun

 

[upaa27]

I won the bid everyone! That means I got my self a NST!
It says it is 9kv 30ma and it ended up being ~$40 with shipping. It's coming from CA so it may take some time, but they estimated 1-2 weeks.

So is 270va enough?

Is it an old one or a small switched mode psu? I had trouble before with my smps as it said 30 ma but actually measured around 3.

 

[USAbro]

Oh crap, seriously? I can find a similar one and post it. It looks old with wires coming out of it. It has a sticker on the side saying not to use in construction because it doesn't have a GFI.

I'd have to say it looks just like this one, but is 9kv instead of 5kv.Gas Tube Sign Transformer 120 Volts Actown FG 4047 | eBay

Edit: Oh, now I know what your saying. No it is the iron core type not the ballast type. It costs a lot for shipping too, so it must be heavy.

And it is 60htz out I'm pretty sure.

Also, I think I know why yours is only 3ma. It's because the smps ones are designed to work with different tubes. They self determine how much current is needed and output that much. Also, they're high frequency. Imo, they're like a higher voltage electronic ballast.