The Beat My Tesla Coil Thread.

In this thread I will post pictures of my first attempt at a Tesla Coil.

Being a beginner to this subject I would love to see what other members of ATS have achieved in this field.

I am building an original style AC 1/4 wave coil,with a static spark gap to begin with.
It uses a 15000vac 20ma(@20khz) neon sign transformer as the main power source.
(the PSU could do with more beans i know,but its only my first go and $$ is a problem.)

I am still in the construction stage of the project so I don`t have any discharge pics yet.
So here are some Pics of what i have made so far.
If anyone is interested i will post all the specs of the coil later.

So come on ATS tech wizards and high voltage dudes,lets see how it should be done-

Show me some pics of the coils you guys have made please.

Ok here are the photos.





Winding the Primary coil,made using 9mm copper pipe and drilled polypropylene kitchen board for supports.





The flat finished primary on the base with ex vacuum cleaner motor in lower left of pic,to be used as spark gap blower.




Here is my cheapo hand winding jig,which uses jump leads and 3 planks to hold the secondary.I wind the coil by hand with the old broom handle which is gaffer taped to the secondary form.(hahah looks bad,but worked a treat.)

Here is a better pic,although my camera sucks so it ain`t too much better.



Here is the capacitor bank that i made.It is 21 000 volts at 0.0047microfarad.
When i build the spark gap,this bank should in theory charge and discharge at 100 cycles per second.It has bleed resistors across each cap-but these are underneath,so you can`t see them here.




Ok Thats it for now,the other parts are not yet bought yet,or not yet photographed.
So come on any ATS tesla coil experts,post your PiCS and tips here.


[edit on 11-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

[edit on 11-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

[edit on 11-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

[edit on 11-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

Here is my latest photo`s,which I admit are as bad as the first few...
I was thinking something was wrong with the camera for a while,but no:
Its the energy saving light bulbs in the room...Not good for photos.I`ll get some supplementary lights soon hopefully.

OK first update photo,here is what I have just bought as a possible part for my "top load capacitor",or "torroid/torus"
Its a simple length of 4inch diameter "aloominum" ducting.



Its not ideal,as my mathematics told me to use a 3 inch diameter torroid.(I hope to display all of my mathematical theory of the entire system soon-when I have time.)
So i may not use it,I will have to go over the theory-I should be able to re jig the torroid with a smaller internal support(to make the whole thing smaller.)
The whole top load should be 3 inch diameter tube,with a 7 inch internal metal plate as support(acording to my calculations)
If not i will have to buy some 3inch diameter tube,which is harder to get hold of.


Now,here are 2 of my newly purchased Maxwell capacitors.
These are 2 of 10 that i have just bought second hand for a bargain price-4 have been used lightly,and 6 are still in the wrapper!These peaches amount to 15KV of capacitance,and will soon take up residence in one of my Tesla/induction/pulse related experiments.

Some are 1 kv at 750uF,and some are 1.8kv at 430uF.







My next photos will show the completed torroid and spark gap,which I am working on at the moment.




[edit on 14-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

pretty darn neat! Hope you don't end up pulling off some 'philadelphia experiment' type stuff!

LOL. Keep the updates comin'!

Where's your pic of the thick rubber gloves you use so you don't electrocute yourself?

Seriously though kudos on your experiment, good luck with the results.

Just don't put yourself in the hospital, I hear the food there really sucks.

You have voted Silcone Synapse for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

Awesome

Was it easy to find the materials you needed?
What do you hope to do with it?

cool capacitors. the highest rated I usualy see are about 450v...

I bow down you ,with your over generous responses.

The gloves are a good idea ,for this is a game where one wrong move could be fatal.

Thats why I have waited until I have reached a point in my life where I have calmed down a bit,although I have wanted to make a Tesla coil since I found out about the inventor in my schooldays (from my fellow school friend BTW,not a teacher... )

I could of course still FRY myself,so each step takes a lot of planning and checking.And no getting friends to "just hold this wire" while I test it...

I have 2 different electrically minded and trained people to consult with before I attempt anything.

Old enough to know better me...but I can`t resist.

EDIT:byhiniur,
Holy Moly Man,I am Humbled....That is my first WATs vote i think.

[edit on 14-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

This is absolutely fascinating! I'll be watching this thread with great interest. Good luck to you on this endeavor. Just be careful - your messing with electricity here, and who knows what else.

Hey,Thanks DCFusion,
Although please don`t expect anything too outrageous as this is only my first serious go at a decent sized coil.
I will be happy if we have some kind of visible discharge from it,It wont be huge,but it should look cool.(I hope)

Nice 1 All,I shall update more photos in the next few days as I work on the spark gap and top load.Sorry if this thread is a slow burner,but hey I must be careful here.

BTW your encouragement means a great deal to me.Words cannot describe how much,Thank you all.

Way to go. I have always wanted to build one also but I have not gotten around to it. To much Honey Do's. Here is the other project I want to try, maybe you will be interested too.
205.243.100.155...

ultralo,
Top 1 man,the coin shrinking stuff is very closely related to what I am attempting to achieve,Its all a bit of good clean,no nonsense EM induction.


Hey also you guys and girls,I really wanna see some kick ass HV masters saying "Oy Silcone synapse,your Tesla coil is TINY and rubbish,check out mine"...haha

I really do need that sort of reply,to help my never ending mission to learn.

Big appreciation to everyone.

You have voted Silcone Synapse for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.



Looks like a cool project. Please try to get some video clips of it in action when you finish it

Thanks Warp,
Wow,another vote.Too kind!
I will post videos when its up and running.
I am waiting on an order so I can make the PSU protection circuit-Its taking ages as its from the USA.They already phoned me up to ask a few questions about why I wanted these Items.
I am just in the process of writting up my notes and equations into a more arranged and understandable form so that I can post that here too.More soon.

Way COOL

You have voted Silcone Synapse for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have used all of your votes for this month.

Good luck and be carefull young tess

Hey SS...some damn good work there, i look forward to seeing your coil working...have this on me..

You have voted Silcone Synapse for the Way Above Top Kitchen-Scientist award. You have two more votes this month.

Just remeber to stay safe man.

Thanks everyone.
I will try to stay safe,I have a mate whos a 3 phase electrician,and he will look over all my connections and work before I hit the power button.
I hope to build some dead switches into it for added saftey.
Something tells me the old "one hand in the pocket" method isn`t quite enough.
(thats what Tesla used to do for safety apparently.)

In fact, maybe you could explain to anyone viewing this page and not having the proper background, just how dangerous this is and what kind of precautions they should be taking?

You are right Nygdan,I have just tried to Edit it into my first post,but I have used all my edits so here will have to do.


PLEASE:Anyone reading the information in this thread should NOT attempt to replicate a Tesla coil without spending time and effort learning about the dangers of high voltage electricity.
High voltage behaves very differently to low,and can be FATAL in less than 100th of a second.

Any youngsters interested in this-hassle your Dad,or preferably you science/electronics teacher to build one for you!

HV electric shock info(warning semi graphic nature)

pad39a.com...

And that chap was very lucky...

Here is a more rounded view of the dangers associated with tesla coils,HV being only one.

www.deepfriedneon.com...

Nygdan,if you are able-put this warning at the top if that would be better.Thank you.

[edit on 16-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]

my invention is called the black doughnut . i like the ideas of tesla. this is simple ok, it is static electricity we all have done it as kids, but listen carefully, carefully ok and have an open mind on the subject. i too have been exsperimenting. here. a small test. take a balloon, rub on your hair. ok stuff sticks to it right. take the balloon let it go , hold your hand close to the balloon. it will levitate the balloon. this is static electricity in action and you can see the levitation. static electricity , is the gravity here on earth. lets put this to work and use the earths gravity to do all the work for us shall we. please start at low speeds, ok. take a or build a van de graff and couple it with a tesla coil. the tesla coil is in the inside of the van de graff ok. the thing will start to levitate as it is running don't be scared when your hair moves when you do not touch it when you are just close to it., USE A WOODEN STICK TO SHUT IT OFF so you do not get shocked and it must be tied down with kite string or something. use the compass so you can see the direction of the fields. if you build it in a circle circuit the center will not allow anything to pass thru it , a force field so to speak. have lots of fun and keep the kids away. electrogravitics and such toys are fun but can be deadly. electrogravitics.com

[edit on 16-11-2006 by littlebird]

[edit on 16-11-2006 by littlebird]