How to build a Tesla Coil

Step 8 For the Future...

There are a few things that I realize I should change in my next Tesla Coil, one of the main ones being the design of the primary coil. It needs to be both more tightly coiled and it needs more windings. Also, i want to make a better discharge terminal. But, I have a new Tesla Coil planned for when i find the time and money, and it will probably be 6-7ft tall!

But for now, I'd like to admire other coilers hard work!

(embedding seems broken, but links work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVmX2Ik4ylg

Comments

[rocket master]

wouldnt you want less windings for a higher voltage?

[Snerdguy]

Do not confuse a Tesla coil with a Van DeGraff generator. When you see demonstrations of someone with their hair standing straight up, the high voltage comes from a Van DeGraff generator which builds a static charge through a mechanically driven belt. The participant stands on an insulator while touching the top. The voltage can pop you when you are grounded. But the current is usually low.

A Tesla coil, on the other hand, is a type of transformer similar to the one in a television and it can generate high currents unless it is damped. It can kill you if it is improperly handled. Usually, when you see it demonstrated the operator has a rod to draw the arc while they stand on an insulator or are wearing rubber soled shoes. That acts to dampen the current. Some people have found out the hard way that shoes with metal nails in the soles are poor insulators.

Tesla coils are dangerous in the wrong hands and should not be treated as toys. If you build one, be careful and don't let other people mess with it.

[rocket master]

yet tesla coils make high voltages and low current-that is how they work

[outlaws]

How do you make the top of the tesla coil, and what id VACin the scematic

[seabeepirate]

looks like the top is some sort of small metal container with the bottm edges hammered into an almost round shape. VAC stands for Volts Alternating Current. In the US 115VAC is pretty standard... typically you would have to go looking for anything else. Outside the US you'll probably find a lot of 240 VAC.

Please understand I'm not trying to be mean but, if you didn't know what VAC means maybe you should start with something that could teach you about this sort of thing before you jump into the more dangerous projects. It would be a shame to here that you or someone else got hurt or that you accidently burned up every piece of electronics in your home. I mean I used to be an electrician and I'm not sure I'm qualified for this project :p

[twistedhickey]

 I have a question?  If a room 12'x 12' 1/2 steel plated throughout.
 A door 6"x 28".   I want to place a Tesla in this space, I understand that "F" cage is required, how do I keep it safe?   

[sunhouse1995]

In case anyone didn't notice, there's a huge metal shipping container that the sparks aren't attracted to. Something of that size would normally pick up most of the sparks according to the smaller projects I've done unless stuff completely shifts on projects this size.

[baratacus]

It is a fake.  You wouldn't get a uniform ring pattern like that without it being encased inside of a sphere or cylinder.  even then the energy would arc off of the surface of the emitter, there wouldn't be a huge "air barrier" between the emitter and the spark.    Cool indestructable, but loose that last page... it's misleading.

[jdisco]

 That picture might be a time-lapse. The top of the coil has a bar on it and rotates, which would explain the ring. I'm just guessing though, idk how sparks look thru time-lapse.

[BlueFusion]

http://tesladownunder.com/

[baratacus]

If you actually look through the site you see that what he has is a tesla coil with a rotating 3 foot breaking point rod that he shoots in time laps  then he compiles the images to create the ring around the coil.  He then arcs the spark to the lader and the basketball net in seperate shots and superimposes it over a picture of him standing in front of the control box.   He did use a tesla coil to generate the sparks, but they were done many seperate instances and compiled into one image.  That's a fake image giving the impression that his coil produced that effect instantaneously.  Much like the anti car theft pictures he has.  Look at the live video of the anti theft device and you can see that the results are nothing like the doctored photos of it.

[BlueFusion]

I know.
But it's still a cool shot. And it's better that you actually took the time to find out how it was done instead of just calling "BS!!!1!1one" :)
And it's not a fake. It's just a bunch of images added together. That's a far cry from completely fake... sure, it didn't happen as it appeared to, but it did happen, separately. 

And at least you know where the pic is from :P

[baratacus]

And true, the person who made the image did not make it to mislead people.  He made it more  as a form of visual art using a tesla coil.   By the indestructable author displaying the image without explaining it  is the misleading part.

[baratacus]

I do know where the pic is from, thanks for the link, but a doctored photo is a fake.  The tesla coil from that page is real, it makes big sparks, but it doesn't make the effect shown in the picture and if people are hoping to emulate that effect tehn they will be horribliy disapointed.     It would be like speeding up a video of a kid riding their bike so it appeared he was riding at 100 mph.  Sure it's actual footage of him riding the bike, but  as far as it being a video of him going 100mph,  its faked.  

Put a big disclaimer on it describing what really happend in the photo and you got it covered.

again blue fusion, thanks for stepping up with that link!

[BlueFusion]

 I still don't think 'fake' is the correct word. But at least you get the point. :)

[trajkovicb]

 That is a fake foto..XD..

[Bielll]

that is a real photo --'

[Comhippy]

That is a long exposure picture of a tesla coil

[brooklynlord]

I notice a plasma "ring" in that picture. Why is that?