building a tesla coil

« on: November 17, 2010, 11:00:44 AM »

I am new to this, but ive been working on getting this tesla coil ive made to work. I made it from stuff i have salvaged, but it just wont work, i could use some helpful advice from people who know what there doing, lol

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Seth

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"Overkill is seriously underated"

Re: building a tesla coil

« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2010, 12:09:18 PM »

I'm not by any means an expert but I'll lend you what ever useful information I can. Do you have any photographs or schematics of your coil? Post some information about your coil. Dimensions, materials used, parts list etc..

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“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.” (Nikola Tesla)

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Matt

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Re: building a tesla coil

« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2010, 09:35:22 AM »

i have 2 secondarys, one was for a coil that would run off of a 4.5 kv NST, an the other was for a coil that was powered by a 15 kv NST, since i could not find a place around here that sells magnet wire in great quantities, i had to use some out of a salvaged bank battery charger transfomer, but it kept breaking, so i just twisted it together, an its covered in fragments of varnish, im sure the breaks r a big problem, but it seems that what gives me the most trouble is trying to find/make cpacitors that will work, im studying to be an idustrial electrician, so i havnt got to work around high voltage much, so if i ask a stupid question, forgive me,lol

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Seth

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"Overkill is seriously underated"

Re: building a tesla coil

« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2010, 10:38:02 AM »

Well there is a high probability that the breaks in the secondary are your problem. If not, they will be once the coil is up and running. It is vary difficult to get a good connection on enameled wire without removing the enamel and soldering which would be horrible for a secondary winding under these circumstances. Try eBay for your wire. I was able to get 2000ft of 32awg for about $20 after shipping. Do a search for magnet wire or enameled wire.

Besides that what are you using for capacitors, spark gap, primary, etc...?

Last Edit: November 18, 2010, 10:41:01 AM
By Matt

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“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.” (Nikola Tesla)

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Matt

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Member Since: Jul, 10
Posts: 8

Re: building a tesla coil

« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2010, 01:10:19 PM »

i was using 6 beer bottle capacitors but i dont think that i will use those anymore, so as of right now i dont really have anuthing, im using a stationary spark gap, its 3 pieces of 2x4 put together to a u with 2 bolts, one on each side, the primary is a4 or 5 turns of 4 AWG bare copper grounding conductor, an i havnt actually constructed a proper top load

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Seth

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"Overkill is seriously underated"

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