Tesla Coil Built 43 Years ago. ©

This Tesla Coil was constructed 43 years ago by my twin Brother and I. We were 13 years old at the time. We received an science fair award from Sears and a first place Ribbon. It is constructed of a 15KV-30 ma neon sign Transformer, Two plate Glass window Caps, a tungsten Steel Spark Gap, 20 Turns of 14Ga.10 THHN 10inch form- Primary, and 2000 Turns 26 ga. on a 4"X40" paper Carpet tube.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 1.5
• MV
• Arc
• Jacob's
• Ladder
• Tesla
• Coil
• HHO
• Gas
• Browns
• Meyer

[AllgoodAutomation]

43 years ago the library was the place to find good stuff and to a smaller degree it still is.

Documented Journals.

[envisionelec]

They had these things called "Books" where people would sit down and read text on paper. Weird, huh?

[jupy921]

That is so cool, that given the age of the thing, that it still works. Pretty neat you guys made it when you 13 too. Impressive.

[HighVoltageScience]

I love the older sold sate transformers they are build like tanks. I have a 6kv 30ma one and a 6kv 20ma one and i have ran a Tesla coil for 1 hour with no terry filter or safety gap and it still works lol.

[HighVoltageScience]

Nice coil hope mine lasts that long. Try using

white plastic as the dielectric for your home made capacitor. Glass work but glass dose not work good with high frequency. Plastic dose.For even more power take off a flew turns off the primary.

With 7,5kvac at 30ma with you coil you should be able to get 12''-14'' sparks.

[TheEmpressPalpatine]

That Tesla coil is just about as old as I am. I never saw capacitors made out of window glass and aluminum foil before. It must have been harder to get parts in those days.

[asimov13647]

I built a Tesla coil about the same time from plans I found in Popular Science. I wish I could find that magazine again. I have a photo of the TC and can email it to you if you wish.

[asimov13647]

Count the number of turns in an inch of secondary and then calculate how many inches of secondary you need to have 2000 turns.

[dletendre]

I made one very similair to this at about the same time when I was perhaps 13. I read how to make it in an article in either Popular Science or Popular Mechanics but I can't find the article anywhere and it was very simple and explainatory. I am in the midst of making one now with my 2 boys (13 &15) and I would like to find that article. Any Help?

[lamp0xe]

what i did to count the secondary is count how many turns are in a cm then see how many cm there are then times the results

[TCDIL95]

how do you count how many turnes of secondary there are?

[codemsan]

hey! im very inventive on my own and id never let the internet make things to easy for me, i like the challange of figuing thinsgs out for my own! BTW im 13