Mini Spark Gap Tesla Coil

Step 3 Tank capacitor & Spark Gap

For the tank cap I made a MMC (Multi-Mini Capacitors) I used 8 3000V .047uf CDE HV Meallized Polypropylene Film Capacitors. The reason we need to use eight is because we need to raise the voltage rating of the caps because the fly back will give off a massive amount of voltage! So we need to put the caps in series! So lets do some math 3000v x 8 = 24000v this should be good! Once you put them in series the capacitance will go down so .047uf / 8 = .0058uf or 5.8nF. Once you have them in series we need to put the 10Mohm resistors across each of the capacitors to drain the voltage out of the capacitors. A good website to visit is

http://www.tb3.com/tesla/capacitors/capacitors.html

VERY HELPFUL! The spark gap is two screws put threw a box, the closer they are the more the arcs going into the air are ( The lightbulb I put on top move the arcs close together to get it) the long apart they are the longer the arcs will be in the air! Play around with them to get it the way you like it! Also the transformer I am supplying power to the flyback, I put a meter to it and it says 32 V dc but when I take another reading when its turned on it reads 8 v dc. Its out of a TV, i need a bigger transformer.

WARNING! BE SURE NOT TO TUCH THE CAPS WILE THEY ARE IN USE I TOUCHED THEM TWICE! ONCE BURNED MY FINGER AND WENT NUMB FOR A LITTLE WILE! TWICE HIT MY LEG AND ABOUT KNOCKED ME OUT! IT SHOCKED THE HELL OUT OF ME!!!! BE CAREFUL!!!

Comments

[tzq33tdq]

this is so cool i want to make one. how many volts is it and why is it so awesome?

[Jimmy Proton]

can you use microwave caps