175 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
HOW TO BUILD A TESLA COIL
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by Steve Gantt
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(713) 684-6269 (VOICE)
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(713 688-2058 (FAX)
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I like alot of other folks seem to be driven to explore the
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uses of high voltage devices. I do not know why exactly. Hey,
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maybe I was abducted by aliens, and realize that by the
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understanding of how high voltage and frequency react on
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matter we might be able to beat the impending alien
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invasion... Or, then again I might just find this fascinating
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. At any rate, I thought that I might share my experience in
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building a tesla coil, and give you some pointers.
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Question :
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Building your own tesla coil is about as difficult;
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A. as baking your first cake
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B. rebuilding your first automobile engine
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C. A final exam on "Nuclear Fusion as it relates to Electro-
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dynamic Variations in Adjacent Ferrous Materials as
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Opposed to Standard Electromagnetic Pulses"
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( The answer is A )
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You should be able to complete this project in your spare
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time in about a week. Five days you will be required to watch
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the DISCOVERY Channel or any other channel that will help you
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through the boredom of winding the tesla coil (often called
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the secondary).
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First you will need about $ 70 to get all the materials (see
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the attached parts list). After you have purchased everything
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you need to build the coil, start on that first.
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The Tesla coil itself is constructed from a 3 foot piece of
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4" PVC pipe (if you go the hardware store & want to impress
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them, tell them you need 3 feet of 4 inch Schedule 40).
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Next you will need about 1 & 1/3 pounds of # 26 AWG magnet
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wire. By wire by the pound ? Yes ! that is how this wire is
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usually sold. Get two pounds it's not that expensive, and
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besides you might want to experiment with it later. Now CAN
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use #30 AWG or # 28 AWG or # 24 AWG but if you use other wire
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the coil won't work as well ( the coils is based on some
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complicated algebraic formulas, and is dependant on # of
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turns, length of wire, etc.).
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Now drill a small hole each end of the PVC about 1/2 inch
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from the top and bottom. Shove one end of the wire thru one
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of the holes and leave about a foot of wire on the inside.
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Take some tape and put it over the wire so you don't pull it
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out like some dummy I know did (me). Now comes the winding...
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Place the PVC on the floor in front of the TV, turn the
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channel to some movie, the Discovery Channel or something
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else, get you something to drink, and have a roll of tape a
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pencil and paper within reach. Now start turning the pcv
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allowing the wire to wind around it. Count ten full turns.
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Move all the wire down so that it looks real pretty and that
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no wire has jumped on top of another. Kinda pull it tight,
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place some tape over it, and mark down ten on your piece of
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paper. You are now 1/160 th's the way there. You will need a
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total of 1600 turn on this PVC. Make sure that no wire is on
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top of another, be sure to pull it tight ( but DON'T BREAK
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THE WIRE !). If you DO break the wire or you run out in the
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middle of the 1600 turns then...
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Use some sandpaper to get the enamel off the end of the wire
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and solder the two loose ends together. Make it a real pretty
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solder job, no sharp edges, no blobs of solder, etc. then
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coat the solder joint with your favorite high voltage dope,
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or non-metallic fingernail polish, whichever you have
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handiest. Keep winding, keep counting. Keep putting that tape
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on so it doesn't unravel on you. When you finish counting to
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1600 then ...
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Cut the wire so that you have about 24 inches of wire left,
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place it through the other hole in the pvc. DON'T take the
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tape off yet. Secure the wire on the inside with another
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piece of tape. Now take your almost finished tesla coil
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outside and start spaying it with "Non-conductive Fast-Drying
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Clear-plastic acrylic paint" ( Go down to the hardware store
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& get a couple of cans of clear acrylic spay paint). and put
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about three coats of paint on the coil. Now take the tape
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off, check for loose wire and wire that has gotten on top of
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other wire (Take time to do this right. It's not difficult,
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just time consuming). Now spay about another 6 coats on. If
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you have finished with the six coats, just use up the rest of
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the paint with extra coats. Be sure to let this stuff dry
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well between coats.
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Okay now we can start on the Driver...
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If you can solder & read schematics then go to it & skip
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ahead to the OPERATION Section...
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If you have never soldered before, or have never built any
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circuits before, then I suggest you practice first.
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Take the perfboard and place the LM567 in the top third of
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the board about four rows from the top. The LM567 will have
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either a notch in the top or a dot over pin 1. Now bend over
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pin # 8 ( it is not used and will help hold it in place for
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you. Next take your .1 MFD caps and put then in place one
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hole over next to pins 1,2 & 4.
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Solder one leg to those pins. Now hook up everything else
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as shown in the schematic.
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To make T1 you will need to take the AMIDON ferrite core.
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Remove the bobbin and wrap 15 turns of the # 26 AWG , spaced
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evenly, leaving about a foot of wire at both ends. Then wrap
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it with tape. Now mark the ends of the wire so that you know
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what they are. Now take the other piece of the ferrite coil
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and wrap about 120-150 turns on it leaving about a foot of
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wire on each end ( yes, use the same #26 AWG wire). Cover
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that with tape. Now put the bobbin back in. Now wrap the
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entire thing with a few layers of tape, making sure you know
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which wires cane off of the bobbin (primary 15 turns) and the
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other (secondary 120-150 turns).
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After you have completed everything, co back and check all of
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your connections. Check them again. Then get a friend to
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check them.
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If you don't have a 18-24 vdc power source you will have to
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build one. Use the package called 24VPOWER. This file is with
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this package.
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OPERATION SECTION
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Set up the TESLA coil so that it stands vertically on a
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table. Remove everything from around it, especially
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diskettes, VCR tapes, credit cards, etc. hook the bottom wire
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from the coil to the tesla coil driver. The upper wire should
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remain inside the PVC, taped to the side. Put the switch on
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TUNE (if you don't do this you will blow the LM567) and apply
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power ( turn it on ). Adjust the trimpot so that both LED's
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are about the same brightness. Now you can switch off the
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tune switch.
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You should be operating now. Hold a florescent tube up to the
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top portion of the coil and it will glow. You will see some
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little sparks if you touch the coil on the top portion. You
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now have an operating Tesla coil.
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What to do if you run into trouble.
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1. Check all your connections
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2. Have a friend check all the connections.
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3. Call you mother and have her check all the connections.
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4. Use a multimeter & check the voltage between ground & pin
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# 4 of the LM567. It should read about 8 VDC. If not and
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step 5 checks okay then replace the 7808
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5. Check the voltage between ground and the input of the
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7808. It should be between 18-24 VDC. if there is no
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voltage then you have a bad power source.
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6. Check voltage ( frequency if you have it) on pin #5 of
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LM567. If there is any voltage or frequency, then the
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IRF511 is bad, replace it.
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7. Other things to check after the above.
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a. Make sure the primary and secondary of T1 are not
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reversed.
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b. If the LED's glow, then everything is operating ok up
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to that point. Use a multimeter & check OHMS between
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the upper and lower wires of the tesla coil. It
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should read about 0 ohms.
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c. Pray
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d. Spit on it
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e. Use abusive language
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f. call me
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