Tesla coils! Any advice?

[knotlogic]

I thought we had a HV forum here, but seem I was mistaken... Not sure where else is appropriate for this so...

Is there anyone about who could advise on Tesla coils?  It's been one of the things on my "to do" list for ages now, and I figured I really should make a start and not keep putting it off.  Thing is, I don't deal with HV stuff and particularly with Tesla coils, there's a lot of theory that's new to me.  Ideally, if anyone could recommend some guides that give a comprehensive overview of the theory that would be great.

Also, does anyone have any experience with oneTesla?  There's this post from about 7 years back, but it's also about their Tiny Tesla product.  I was thinking of getting their larger kit.  The draw is that it seems to be a tested design, and a complete kit which should minimise any troubleshooting or debugging I'd need to do.  Which, as a beginner to Tesla coils, would be great.  I'm not sure what other options there are in the same class though.  I've seen other suppliers of Tesla coil parts, but those seem to be more for people with some experience with designing them.

[Neper]

I thought we had a HV forum here, but seem I was mistaken... Not sure where else is appropriate for this so...

Is there anyone about who could advise on Tesla coils? 

Don't use one right next to the fire station. Our physics teacher loved playing with the Tesla coil at my highschool and each time he did someone from the fire brigade would come over and complain about the interference to their radio comms.

[knotlogic]

Well, the good thing is there aren't any fire stations nearby...

There is a small neighbourhood police station down the road, but they are at least a ways away... 

[jonpaul]

Greg LEYH LOD.ORG Lightning on Demand
TCBA Tesla Coil Builders Association, quarterly  journal of Harry Goldman 1981...2001 pdf scans around.
Enjoy and be safe

Jon

[f4eru]

Modern "Tesla" "Coils"


 

[knotlogic]

Greg LEYH LOD.ORG Lightning on Demand
TCBA Tesla Coil Builders Association, quarterly  journal of Harry Goldman 1981...2001 pdf scans around.
Enjoy and be safe

Jon

Thank you!  Looks like I have some searching to do...

[jonpaul]

Knotlogic:

I was a big Tesla fan as a preteen, 1950s..1960s, the magazines like Popular Electronics, Electronics Illustrated, Radio-TV News, etc had articles for both tube (valve/Ampoule) and spark gap coild of various sizes and designs.

Typical TC coil used an 811A tube, 1500V plate transformer and transmitting mica caps.

Winding the primary and secondary were a big mechanical project. some pounds of   #22-30 double cotton covered magnet wire....

Most parts came from Courtland Street radio and ham stores in lower Manhattan.

Read the fascinating bios of Nikola Tesla and see the movies (one from Yugoslavia, one film starred David Bowie as Tesla!)

 Have Fun!

Jon