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A reliable Tesla coil

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Its also worth noting that you can buy carbide tipped lathe tools, I have quite a few at home for hard steels. You can also buy carbide inserts as well. I only mention this because cutting carbide rod down to size might be problematic.

Overclocked, you beat me to it! :) The carbide rod basically can only be cut with diamond tools. But the carbide inserts would be what I would use. They are very close size wise, one to the next, and would not need further machining. Some times you can even get used ones from a machine shop for free or at least cheaper than new ones. In machining the corner/edge is what wears/breaks, the thickness stays the same. And thickness is what would be important in a spark gap.
 
How about carbide tipped drill bits? they would have a nice point on them.
 
How about carbide tipped drill bits? they would have a nice point on them.

For Tesla coil spark gaps you must avoid points. Points can lead to corona leakage which significantly reduces the efficiency of your coil. It can cause the gap to fire at the wrong times and could be the difference between an otherwise-perfectly working Tesla coil and a hunk of trash that won't do anything at all.

Ok, that last comment was a bit dramatic, but to an extent it's true. You'll want nicely rounded spark gaps electrodes, no sharp edges whatsoever.
 
Thanks for that tid bit Matt, I thought you wanted points, and I would have made a hunk of trash.
 
Thanks for that tid bit Matt, I thought you wanted points, and I would have made a hunk of trash.

No worries! It's just things you pick up here and there. After building your first Tesla coil you'll know a heck of a lot more than you did when you first started. It's how these things work :D
 
Speaking in terms of a small tesla coil, I built one using a kit I got at maker Faire. In Retrospect you really dont need a kit, but I did get a nice silver globe thingy!

https://www.teslatronix.com/

Ive set it up, used it, played with it, and now it just sits there. It was pretty cool to experiment with. I "tuned" it using my scope as antenna. I wound my coil using a lathe and going verrry slowly. I only got a few mm worth of sparks, but it lit up bulbs from 1-2 feet away. It seems they dont publish the schematic anymore, but it really isnt difficult to make, Its a "joule" thief of sorts but on a bigger scale.

ADD: More experimentation is required though. Since the schematic is simple, I wondered what would happen if I used a bigger transistor/Powersupply and more turns.

Schematic is shown in this video

Mine didnt have the two diodes.
 
Speaking in terms of a small tesla coil, I built one using a kit I got at maker Faire. In Retrospect you really dont need a kit, but I did get a nice silver globe thingy!

https://www.teslatronix.com/

Ive set it up, used it, played with it, and now it just sits there. It was pretty cool to experiment with. I "tuned" it using my scope as antenna. I wound my coil using a lathe and going verrry slowly. I only got a few mm worth of sparks, but it lit up bulbs from 1-2 feet away. It seems they dont publish the schematic anymore, but it really isnt difficult to make, Its a "joule" thief of sorts but on a bigger scale.

ADD: More experimentation is required though. Since the schematic is simple, I wondered what would happen if I used a bigger transistor/Powersupply and more turns.

Schematic is shown in this video

Mine didnt have the two diodes.

The device shown in that video really isn't a Tesla coil. It is not a resonant transformer. It would have been more accurate if the creator of the video called it an oscillator instead, because that's really all it is. A Tesla coil uses tuned LC circuits.
 
Speaking in terms of a small tesla coil, I built one using a kit I got at maker Faire. In Retrospect you really dont need a kit, but I did get a nice silver globe thingy!

https://www.teslatronix.com/

Ive set it up, used it, played with it, and now it just sits there. It was pretty cool to experiment with. I "tuned" it using my scope as antenna. I wound my coil using a lathe and going verrry slowly. I only got a few mm worth of sparks, but it lit up bulbs from 1-2 feet away. It seems they dont publish the schematic anymore, but it really isnt difficult to make, Its a "joule" thief of sorts but on a bigger scale.

ADD: More experimentation is required though. Since the schematic is simple, I wondered what would happen if I used a bigger transistor/Powersupply and more turns.

Schematic is shown in this video

Mine didnt have the two diodes.
It uses a "blocking oscillator" drive.
 
Do you think a vacuum cleaner motor can be used for a synchronous rotary spark gap?
 
Do you think a vacuum cleaner motor can be used for a synchronous rotary spark gap?

Possibly. The tricky part would be making sure it's synchronous. You could hook it up to a variac but that's really not the best way to control motor speed. It really depends on what type of motor it is.

You may find Richie Burnett's page on SRSGs interesting and helpful. I also got caught up in the idea of a static gap that I forgot to mention--contacts in a rotary spark gap do not need to be able to handle as high temperatures. You could get away with brass bolts, or even copper electrodes in a rotary gap since they are quenched quickly and are kept cool by constantly moving through the air. They are much cheaper. Just make sure that you are using the type with rounded heads to prevent corona leakage.
 
Possibly. The tricky part would be making sure it's synchronous. You could hook it up to a variac but that's really not the best way to control motor speed. It really depends on what type of motor it is.

You may find Richie Burnett's page on SRSGs interesting and helpful. I also got caught up in the idea of a static gap that I forgot to mention--contacts in a rotary spark gap do not need to be able to handle as high temperatures. You could get away with brass bolts, or even copper electrodes in a rotary gap since they are quenched quickly and are kept cool by constantly moving through the air. They are much cheaper. Just make sure that you are using the type with rounded heads to prevent corona leakage.
Thanks I was wondering about the probes material on a rotary spark gap.
Most of the pics I have seen of the probes on a rotary spark gap did not have much in the form of heat sinking.
So without worrying about the heat what material would corrode less over time? Stanless?
 
The device shown in that video really isn't a Tesla coil. It is not a resonant transformer. It would have been more accurate if the creator of the video called it an oscillator instead, because that's really all it is. A Tesla coil uses tuned LC circuits.

But isnt the Oscillator "tuned" from the coil windings?
 
Thanks I was wondering about the probes material on a rotary spark gap.
Most of the pics I have seen of the probes on a rotary spark gap did not have much in the form of heat sinking.
So without worrying about the heat what material would corrode less over time? Stanless?

I would say stainless, but steel really isn't the best at high frequencies. It would probably work.

Brass would be the most efficient, but would corrode faster. Then again, it would be cheaper to replace the electrodes than if you used metals like titanium or tungsten.

But isnt the Oscillator "tuned" from the coil windings?

Yes, but it is not a tuned resonant (LC) circuit. Its theory of operation is entirely different. It is not a resonant transformer.
 
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