Tesla Coil Help needed please!

HI all

This a primarily a question for members in the UK,as its where i live.
I am constructing a tesla coil and i need a UK source for 0.56mm enammelled wire/magnet wire.I know Maplin sell it but i need a 300 metre length.

Anyone know a UK supplier of this wire?

Most only sell it in 130 metre lenghs,and i really want to avoid joining pieces together.

I really should have worked out the wire length before i bought and constructed the other parts,but oh well too late now.Its my first attempt at a TC so the learning curve is quite steep.
Thanks for any help!

www.maplin.co.uk...

Try this.

Not long enough from Maplin,Sardion.Thanks for looking though.
I need 300 metres on one roll.
They do have the correct sort there,but in ain`t long enough.

AAArgh,oh well anyone whos building a tesla coil,make sure you can get the secondary coil wire before you buy or make all the other bits. Heh heh,darn.

Ill get it one way or another.

Don't you have any electronics stores in the UK? We got them in Toronto and you can either get or order any amounts of gear you can dream of. Got a yellow pages over there?

I tell ya man,i thought i would have no probs getting the wire.Its turning into a real struggle though.Lots of Electrics stores,lots of magnet wire.
None of the 0.56mm long enough so far.I may have to get a different thickness but i really want to stick to the plan...took me ages to work out all the physics equations and i know my calculations will be off if i get a different thickness.
The coils may be out of tune,not at matching resonance,which would Booger the whole thing maybe.
It will happen though,if it works ill chuck some pics on ATS.

I'm going to be building a tesla coil soon aswell. Something akin to the size of "tiny tess", google it if you don't know the name.

Do you have the equations on hand? I've been trying to find them, and all the damn sites keep showing pictures of tesla coils in operation, and mentioning how it's built, but no information on what the dimensions of the primary and secondary coild should be... nor the capacitance to use in the tank.

Hi john,
The site i have found most useful is:

www.deepfriedneon.com...

Very handy as its a UK based site,so all the equations are based around our 50hz electricity,not the 60hz they get in the US.

If you are making a mini coil (SSTC?),thats a bit different to the old school sort that i`m trying to make.They look cool,and im starting to think i should have gone for a mini coil as im having problems getting 300 metres of wire...Thats only a 20 inch secondary(4inch diameter)
MOTs (microwave oven transformers) may suit your project.

Some good TCs here:

www.youtube.com... a mini coil

www.youtube.com... Ion propulsion using TC

www.youtube.com... A great coil/builder.

Good luck with your project,
Get some pics or a video on ATS when its working!


Edit:ah,i see you are in Canada,not sure if you`re are 50hz there.

[edit on 17-10-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

FINALLY...


www.wires.co.uk


They have the required wire.At last.
Darned fast service too-arrived in 2 days.
The best was the price,thought it would be 35quid,but it was only 20.

Still gotta suss out the transformer protection circuit though.
Thought i had it all ordered but it seems the company have lost my order. GREAT.
AH,the road is long.

It is important to get the right length of wire on the secondary. Not only does the secondary serve as the inductive component in a tuned circuit it also serves as an antenna. As an antenna it has to be the right length for the operating frequence. Tesla recommended using the quarter wave length. (length in ft. = 486/ f in MHz) It is a very common antenna length.

Most of the "Tesla" coils that I have seen do not use a tuned length as used in Tesla's coils. The reason is that it is hard to tune secondary circuit around a set freq. The capacitance is hard to change and expensive to redo. That leaves the coil. Not many people are willing to rewind a coil if the coil adversely affects the capacity.

Thanks for the tips,angryscientist,
The type i am making is quarter wave.
I have it all calculated,but i am still worried that it may be tricky to get the exact number of turns on the secondary.

Just finished winging my secondary....
AArggh my eyes and fingers Hurt,not as much as my back though...
I opted for a hand wound system in the end after messing around with a motor and variac.
The motor was a bit to quick for the job even at low voltage,and i didn`t have the bits to make a gear system to slow it down.
So instead i made what could very well be the cheapest most bodgey winding jig on the planet.I will chuck some pictures on when the varnish has dried in an hour or so.

Although the jig was cheapo and thrown together it actually worked a treat.
I am pretty happy with the results of this,my very first hand made secondary coil.

Pics soon.Thanks for all the tips.

I have made a new thread displaying some pictures of my coil under construction here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...'



Please post there if you have any ideas for me.