Tesla coil secondary winding form question.

[ngdbud@hotmail.com]

I am a 14 year old trying to make a small tesla coil for fun. I would
be pleased with sparks at least 6 inches long. I have already made a
homemade capacitor, 10kv 40 nf, which I plan on adding to. I am
wondering if a glass cylindrical jar I have, 10 inches tall 2.5 inches
in diameter would make a good winding form for a small tesla coil
secondary. Based on a posting I started in sci.electronics.design, I
will most likely be using 28 AWG wire. my math says that would give me
around 260 coils and would need 200 feet of wire. If you have any
suggestions or corrections to make to my math please post them. Thank
You!!

 

[John Popelish]

I am a 14 year old trying to make a small tesla coil for fun. I would
be pleased with sparks at least 6 inches long. I have already made a
homemade capacitor, 10kv 40 nf, which I plan on adding to. I am
wondering if a glass cylindrical jar I have, 10 inches tall 2.5 inches
in diameter would make a good winding form for a small tesla coil
secondary. Based on a posting I started in sci.electronics.design, I
will most likely be using 28 AWG wire. my math says that would give me
around 260 coils and would need 200 feet of wire. If you have any
suggestions or corrections to make to my math please post them. Thank
You!!

Glass is a fine high voltage and high frequency material, but is not
particularly easy to work with. I think you would have an easier time
with a polyethylene cylindrical container as a coil form. you can
easily make holes in it and use fishing line to tie the primary coils
to it. You can also make a free standing coil and just support its
shape with vertical rods of plastic or fiberglass (like sections of an
old fiberglass fishing pole). PVC pipe is also quite easy to work
with. It saws and drills easily and you can glue to it with pipe
cement. It is also a pretty good dielectric. Look for the big sizes
of fittings used to glue two sections of pipe together, if you don't
want to buy a 10 foot pipe section.

 

[amdxjunk]

I am a 14 year old trying to make a small >tesla coil for fun. (snip) I am
wondering if a >glass cylindrical jar I have, 10 inches tall 2.5 >inches in
diameter would make a good >winding form for a small tesla coil >secondary.
You might want to join the tesla mailing list, see http://www.pupman.com/
The group will be very helpful to you, also check out their archives. Mike
K.