Tesla Coil Build Thread

[USAbro]

What is that kind. I'm using beer bottle an salt water? And they're about as loud as the microwave.

 

[Sigurthr]

You fill the beer bottles with salt water, place them in a bucket filled with salt water, wires go in each bottle and connected together for one lead, and several wires connected together in the bucket for the other lead. I posted a how to link ages ago when I first told you to make salt water caps. Since fluids make the most contact with the glass possible you get much better performance over any foil, and less heating and stress.

 

[USAbro]

O I'll give it a try.

But now I have to much stupid homework to even mess with it now, I hate homework no wonder kids become depressed

 

[Down with Umbrella]

I think the racing sparks on the secondary could be a result of tuning because I noticed the closer I got to tap turn number 11 the racing seemed to decrease. I can adjust the secondary height up or down a few millimeters.

The tungsten spark gap with the high CFM blower seems to be working great. Today I will inspect the coil top to bottom to make sure there isn't anything that has been arcing or getting hot.

Sigurthr, today I'm going to test out the gas tube you sold me at the beginning of all this. I don't necessarily want to get to close to the coil but tonight I'll give it a try. I have to be holding it correct? I have it propped up close 3 feet a way or so on some PVC and it doesn't light. I did however hold it close once and I saw the gas start to excite.

USAbro, keep up the progress. As for the cost do the best you can with what you have. I spent hundreds or dollars $800-950 maybe? Almost all my hardware is brass and all my wiring is extra heavy 4 gauge. I even have a welding lead for a ground.
The caps I used were DB .15uf. Those were 250 easily.

"Why did you spend so much? "
Well because I can justify it in the name of education and If youre going to do it, do it right.

I know youre in school and it sucks but stick it out! I had to. It will pay off.

 

[Sigurthr]

Sigurthr, today I'm going to test out the gas tube you sold me at the beginning of all this. I don't necessarily want to get to close to the coil but tonight I'll give it a try. I have to be holding it correct? I have it propped up close 3 feet a way or so on some PVC and it doesn't light. I did however hold it close once and I saw the gas start to excite.

Yup you gotta be holding the tube. Do not under any circumstances let a streamer, spark, or arc contact with the tube, as this will likely punch a hole through the glass, ruining the tube. It should work fine though. =) Let me know how it goes! Oh, and don't drop the tube, haha, if you haven't felt what a spontaneous discharge from a SGTC feels like, grab a screwdriver before you get the tube and get near the operational TC, so you are prepared for how it acts near you and how it feels. I've seen people get startled and drop expensive things.

 

[ped]

*coughs*

 

[Down with Umbrella]

Thank you Ped, I would totally drop something expensive. I laughed pretty hard watching that video.
I'll test it out and report back.

 

[Sigurthr]

haha, good find, Ped!

If you've never seen that YouTuber before he has some funny stuff.

edit: I was thinking of the other TC related video he did at a makerfaire, this one is new!

 

[Down with Umbrella]

Now, to a separate subject but somewhat related.

Just for good measure I wheeled my Argon laser (unplugged) cart with some of my hand helds far from the TC.
On the forum it was established that the host of a diode laser would act as a faraday cage thus protecting the sensitive diode.
With that said I don't have a Guinean pig laser I'm willing to test this theory out. :/

Also what effect does fog machine fog have on a TC? I'm guessing the particulates mess with the spark either increaseing ionization or some other problems. Hm something to think about.

 

[Sigurthr]

I still haven't tested the host is a faraday shield theory, not planning to.

Fog increases humidity which increases air conductivity so it will affect tuning and spark propagation a bit, but not enough to cause any problems. You can get dust buildup on the secondary though, so wipe it clean after.

Oh, more video please!

 

[USAbro]

Obviously you were speaking to DWU, mine is nothing to watch more of.

Oh and I left my nst on the table and my dad got mad cause he tells me not to leave stuff on the dining room table, anyways, he took the nst away for a couple of weeks, but I should be focusing on school anyways.

 

[Down with Umbrella]

Good news and bad news. Ugh
I dusted off my TC with compressed air tonight then adjusted the tuning clamp 4 more inches. I noticed some racing sparks. However, I had only been viewing the coil from one angle. When I went around back I saw the secondary arcing in three places. I turned it off immediately.
I'll post a photo of the arc marks later tonight.

So far I haven't adjusted the coupling because I thought the racing was from the tuning. I seemed to have found a good tap point last night when I didn't NOTICE the sparks. After moving it tonight I thought the streamers were longer but noticed the sparks. Clearly the secondary isn't severed.
Can I add varnish over these areas? Is dust on the varnish causing this? I used 3 heavy coats I guess I should have used more.
What if i did permanent damage to my secondary?? Err
With all that said the video isn't bad.

A walk down of the coil. vV

 

[Sigurthr]

Okay, it looks like those burns are just on a single turn each, right? You would need a *real* repair job if multiple adjacent turns were burned because you'd get arcing between the two and then shorted turns. But, it looks like that isn't the case. Carefully sand off the burned spot without damaging other turns, then apply a REALLY thick layer of polyurethane over those spots. When I did these repairs in the past I put on additional coats, 2 or 3, over the whole section, and then once that dried I purposely let a drip of poly dry directly on the wounded spot to form a thick bulge of insulation. That worked flawlessly. Others have skipped the bulge step, but I didn't want to chance it.

Coil looks beautifully built. Good job!

Fix the burned spots, then raise the secondary a bit, perhaps 1/4" at most, then retune. It should be fine!

 

[Down with Umbrella]

I'm amazed at how much dust and particulate sticks to these coils after only being run a few minutes. Some of the dust on the primary is pretty thick. ehh, I wish I had an actual clean room to coil my secondary but I guess if I was doing that I might be getting paid to do so. Haha
I have to further inspect the coil but if two adjacent turns were burned what would be the protocol to fix that?
I really wish I put extra coat of varnish on from the beginning. O well, can't go back and fix that.

Edit:
I located 6 tiny pock marks only on one side of the secondary. I taped a bit of 220 grit sand paper to the tip of a fine screw driver and carefully sanded in a horizontal motion the arc.
I have a few cans of dry air to dust off the secondary locations before applying more varnish.

I also raised my coil coupling by 1/4in (one 360 degree turn of the 4" pvc pipe threaded fitting) maybe I should adjust this in smaller increments. Hm we'll see.
Because I'm leaving for the weekend and varnish takes time to dry I proably won't find out until next week.

 

[Sigurthr]

Sounds good.

For adjacent burnt turns it depends if it has arcs and carbonized or not. No carbon is the same; clean and recoat. If there's carbon/arcing you have to remove the affected wire entirely and sand off the carbon, solder on new turns, sand flush, recoat like hell, and hope it worked. Most builders just make a new secondary.

 

[nospin]

Bahahaha it is alive!

tonight I was able to take the time to start tuning my coil! phew, so far all has gone well with no major problems. I started my tap point at 10 turns on my primary then gradually moved it closer to 11. I believe I haven't found the sweet spot yet but with some fine tuning I believe I will.
here are some videos and pictures. right now I am getting roughly 30-35inch streamers from a break point out. i noticed when i increased the turn tap the streamers were starting to contact the ceiling. (previously i had stated the ceiling was 5feet above the top load. that is not correct its maybe 3.) i cant have that so this is where it sits.

The terry filter safety gap rarely fires that I notice and after watching the videos I did see a few sparks shoot down my secondary. I might have to adjust the coupling slightly. the first turns are just about level to the primary.

My top load needs some work. its not as smooth as it could be.
This is my favorite shot with the coil next to my welded Effie tower and big ben(in progress)

A big thank you to everyone who has helped me on this thread. Sigurthr, Nospin, The lightning stalker, ionlaser555 and others.

Yes success
Good work and great results!