3' Tesla coil w/3 MOT HV supply video

[thedude]

Hello all. My first large tesla coil video. Edit- Warp to finished product music video
Pretty new at "Coiling" as they say.
Searched around on the forum and was kinda suprised that there really weren't any good educational threads here at the energetic forum with regard to building one's own tesla coil from scratch for a novice to begin with.
With much research i discovered that there are very many different ways to proceed. I initially have opted for the least expensive method to get started. My secondary winding has 1100 turns of 26 guage magnet wire. 9.5 turns of copper tubing for my primary. I'm using 3 MOTs (microwave transformers), 1 for an inductive ballast to restrict current to the other 2 in parallel. My topload is a aluminum duct wrapped with foil tape. In my video i have 16kv of capacitors to help drive the spark gap, which is a bedini ssg fan.
This is basically the scematic that i am using except that i have 1 inductive ballast and 2 MOTs parallel. Also my spark gap has only 2 poles on my spark gap and not 4 as in the diagram.

Thats it for now. I want to elaborate more but alas i must sleep. Thanks for any interest or advice that i can get here. Please feel free to share your tesla coiling experiences here.
Please note, I am aware that there are some interesting pancake coil threads as well as perhaps some more elaborate discussions here at the energetic forum. I would like this thread to be available to those who have yet to discover all there is to know.

Editing for discussion and images. I hope that i've been accurate in my description of my arangement. Starting to second guess myself with out my TC here to look as i changed its config a few times. If so i appologize. However, here is an alternate configuration that uses a series setup for the transformers. My interpretation is that with the tank cap bank in parallel to the primary of the TC that you would need the current involved with having the transformers in series to make this run. Not positive, just my interpretation as i have not tried it. Will post more of the info that i found over the next few days.

[thedude]

Wear Goggles

Oh ya i almost forgot.

Important! When tuning your Tesla coil's spark gap ALWAYS WEAR TINTED GOGGLES OR WELDERS GLASSES. You only have one pair of eyes.



Another good point is to have good protection around your primary winding around the bottom to prevent inadvertent contact with it while making adjustments. This is something i will be implementing in the future. Having a set of test leads around to short out the cap bank at your spark gap is always good practice even if they tend to finish up discharged normally. There is no accounting for mistakes or rare occurances with high voltage. We all want to be around to enjoy our efforts.

Anyway just a couple of pointers from a newbie who has already had a couple good shocks. :P

[Inquorate]

Future plans

Hi thedude, have you come across any good links in making your coil and if so can you post them?

Once I get the high voltage transistor worked out, I want to use pulsed dc to run a tesla coil on 30kv into the primary..

Needless to say, LOTS of research to do, and like you say, have to make it as safe as possible.

Tnx for this thread

Love and light

[thedude]

some links

Sorry so slow in replying Inq. I have been swamped with work as of late.
As far as some good sites for Tesla building here are a few that i found and referenced quite often.

Information sources about how to build your own Tesla Coil (this one has many other links to scematics and other sites with info.)

Altair - Nikola Tesla and How to Make a Tesla Coil (well documented specific projects)

Trashy Tesla Coil a tesla coil made entirely from junk from dumpster diving (this one is for coilers on a budget)

Great resource of information here. Nikola Tesla Page, Tesla Coil (Bill Beaty's Homepage)

Generally my suggestion is to investigate based upon the foundation of the coil, that being the power supply. Dependant on your volts is your capacitance. I have read that you ideally should have 2X as many caps as you have volts provided by your transformer. If using a static spark gap tuning your coil will involve knowing more about the frequency of your TC's secondary coil. However, by hooking up a rotary spark gap you can force the resonance that you want, but be warned that you should be cautious and not over drive your capacitors in this manner. You can tell when running the gap how hard your pushing your caps by the intensity of the snap. Once again these are only my learned and interpreted suggestions.

More info here soon.
Thanks
Thedude

[thedude]

Some other variants

Hello all. Just thought that since i was posting schematics in this thread of a HV design that i would add some of the ignition coil driver and flyback driver circuits that i found in researching Tesla coils. These circuits are good for those wishing to ease their way into playing with high voltage of a lower current first before setting up a neon transformer, oil furnace ignition coil or microwave oven transformer.

Heres a basic 555 timer ignition coil driver circuit. The 1k (from + to pin 2) and 2.2K(from pin2 to pin7) can be subbed for trimmer pots (see next circuit)to allow for adjusting freq and gate I believe. Please note that this circuit illustrates no diode protection for back EMF on to the 555 timer and will very likely burn them out quite quickly.


Still no diode protection in this schematic, however this one features some adjustment pots.


Here is a more elaborate driver circuit that offers protection for the timer circuit.


Here is a audio modulated circuit that will convert the spark gap into a speaker through which music can be played. Have not attempted this circuit yet, but have plans to do so soon


This circuit will be more reliable, transistors in parallel config and phased ignition coils. (note- transistors will be cooler but ign. coils will still get hot)


And of course my favorite ignition coil driver is the bedini self oscillator circuit as it will harvest radiant energy from the bifilar coil back on to a secondary battery bank. To drive the ignition coil simply add a connection from the collector in this schematic to the negative pole on an ignition coil. Sub the 2k resistor for a trimmer pot and you have an adjustable ign. coil driver that will stay perfectly cool. An neon bulb from the emmiter to collector is also a good idea in this circuit as it will save you burning out your pots if secondary becomes disconnected.

[seth]

Hi Dude!

Great vid! and great work! Have you played with any receiver coils yet? It truly is great fun! Here are some vids I made...

YouTube - Tesla coil transmitting to 3 receiver coils.

YouTube - Wireless power

It seems to me like the more receiver coils i use, and the bigger the piece of metal I connect them to acting as a ground (in my vids I use a heavy piece of iron that looks like an iron - its an old iron that people used to put next to the fire to warm up and use) the brighter are the CFLs. I'm hoping to keep adding more and more till it seems like free energy!

My tesla coil uses an NST and polypropylene capacitor and sprak gap with tungsten electrodes - i wouldnt know what to do with a 555 timer chip!

Good luck with your experiments - i hope you build some receiver coils - i wanna see what results others get. I made my receiver coils in random fashion - some with thick wire, some thin, and some with many turns, some not so many. But they all work for wireless power transfer as they can all light up my 12V diode torch (and of course, they all manage CFLs)

[thedude]

Hi Seth!

Yes Seth, i do look forward to doing some investigating into the wireless aspects of high frequencey and voltage transmission. I know that Peter Lindemann and Eric Dollard have replicated alot of Tesla's work in this area quite sucessfully, look for a video called "Tesla's Longitudinal Electricity" that they authored together. In it they do a long range wireless transmission. Video is a little dated but still excellent research. Will give you an idea of how long Peter and Eric have been working in this area.

Actually here it is on google video.

Right now i am waiting for some new equipment to arrive and trying to sort out my problems with energetictube.com . Turns out the PHP video scripting is encrypted in so many places i can't make alterations to the site without disrupting its operation completely. I think its time to try and migrate the video and membership database to a whole new format. (on a side note)

[thedude]

Much better performance now.

Best and latest video after tuning!Can also be viewed atYoutube.com
After some much needed improvements my 4kv , 6"x2' secondary Tesla coil is both looking and performing much better. I have added some Tungsten 1/4" gaps (2 in series), as well as a 10" stainless steel sphere as the fixed topload for the secondary. Discharge is strong with only sphere and much better distributed with out a contact point and discharging into the air. However with old torid topload added to the top, the range of heavy discharge went up by 100% at least.
Once my capacitance and driving voltage were balanced 4KV input and 10KV caps seemed to make a consistance resonation that didn't over head the gaps. I tuned the gaps to around 2mm. The only last issue i had to deal with was urethaning the secondary to protect shorting at its bottom windings off of the inside of the primary. Seems like each time you get shorts you kinda have to start from scratch again. Recommend doing it seriously 15 coats (depending on thickness) before even considering turning them on. Live and learn but i think i caught shorting quickly to avoid any damage.







All in all i am really happy with how it turned out for my first large Tesla Coil project. Thanks Nikoli! I can dig it.
Pretty much a wrap on this one now.
Just recieved my new 9KV Franceformer and i'm looking forward to building a audio modulated, dual resonating solid state device. I want a good quality spun aluminum torid. As big as possible for. I'm going to be winding the secondary right away i hope.
Thanks and happy coiling! :P
Thedude.

[thedude]

Close angle slow motion tesla.

Heres a link to my best video yet.
Close up view at 39% of normal speed set to the sounds of The Flaming Lips. A song called Worm Mountain on their new album Embryonic.

[thedude]

My video made it on Boingboing.net

Wow. My Slow mo Tesla video i dedicated to The Flaming Lips, and Tesla of course, made it on to boingboing.net's homepage
Not sure how long articles stay on the front end of boingboing but if its gone here is the perma link there.

Right now they are sending Energetciforum.com some love.
Thanks Boingboing!

Really need to add that i found this REALLY helpful pdf on building a Tesla coil with some basic instructions and pointers.

Also found this awesome Tesla Coil CAD Version 2.0 that does most your winding and capacitance calculating based on some basic specs.


Also some images of my first Tesla coil running.





Thats all for now. I'm just in the process of starting 2264 windings over 3'x6" on a 4' long sauna tubing. Haven't had as much time as i planned to work on my new coil as of late but all things do come eventually. Will update with some images of the components i'm putting together for the new one.