Step 8: Make Connections
At this point, all of the electrical components have been assembled and all that remains is to connect them together and mount them on a base. I chose to use two 1' by 1' wooden boards nutted and bolted together with 0.25" nuts and bolts to make a small box to screw or nut/bolt everything into. Have plenty of nuts and bolts, they're cheap and they come in handy when you're assembling the base!
Once the parts are mounted, use 10AWG or thicker insulated wire to connect everything correctly (see schematic). If this seems too confusing, then perhaps you should try a simpler electronic project first to familiarize yourself with reading and following electrical schematics. Make sure you keep the connections as short and tight as you can to minimize stray inductance and resistance that can hurt your coil's performance. Specialized high voltage wiring is not necessary unless you plan on sticking your fingers into the coil while its operating (bad idea!).
While you can use alligator clips to test everything before you mount it, be aware that the performance of the coil will decrease and you risk destroying your clips due to overheating. I melted multiple alligator clips this way - they often fail where the wire is soldered to the clip and can usually be fixed by resoldering the two together.
If you are building a significantly more powerful Tesla coil than I did, it may not be the best idea to use wood in your design. Wood is not an insulator at high voltages and on a humid day, you might find that your primary circuit will arc through the wood and start a fire. At the very least, do not mount any electrical components directly onto the wooden base, use plexiglass, acrylic, or plastic or ceramic insulators wherever possible. This is not a concern unless you are pumping a kilowatt or more into your coil. (A 9kV 30mA NST only draws about 270W).
Once the parts are mounted, use 10AWG or thicker insulated wire to connect everything correctly (see schematic). If this seems too confusing, then perhaps you should try a simpler electronic project first to familiarize yourself with reading and following electrical schematics. Make sure you keep the connections as short and tight as you can to minimize stray inductance and resistance that can hurt your coil's performance. Specialized high voltage wiring is not necessary unless you plan on sticking your fingers into the coil while its operating (bad idea!).
While you can use alligator clips to test everything before you mount it, be aware that the performance of the coil will decrease and you risk destroying your clips due to overheating. I melted multiple alligator clips this way - they often fail where the wire is soldered to the clip and can usually be fixed by resoldering the two together.
If you are building a significantly more powerful Tesla coil than I did, it may not be the best idea to use wood in your design. Wood is not an insulator at high voltages and on a humid day, you might find that your primary circuit will arc through the wood and start a fire. At the very least, do not mount any electrical components directly onto the wooden base, use plexiglass, acrylic, or plastic or ceramic insulators wherever possible. This is not a concern unless you are pumping a kilowatt or more into your coil. (A 9kV 30mA NST only draws about 270W).
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Freshy Smooth says:
Oct 13, 2011. 4:46 PMReply
How bout these caps http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/B32021A3103M/495-4077-ND/2045200
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HVahead says:
Sep 21, 2011. 11:06 AMReply
i went to Menards and found a flexible aluminum duct tube about 3" diameter and put the ends together to make a toroid about 8" outer diameter and 3" inner diameter. you should try this. it seems to work well.
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