#114083 - 02/09/2002 22:50
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: lectric]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/01/2002
Posts: 1649
Loc: Louisiana, USA
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In reply to:
BTW, the FCC get's rather picky about you setting off a large (or even relatively small) tesla coil for any amount of time as it REALLY interferes with all sorts of communications, as in TV, Cell phone, Radio, EMS and POLICE FREQUENCIES, etc etc etc.
It helps to employ heavy grounds dedicated to Tesla coil use, especially if you make a habit of running a beast like our 7.5+ KW unit. We also use 200 AMP EMI filters between each line going back to the electric grid. In our case we can actually watch TV while it is running out in the driveway at 7 - 8 KW. The noise is as much an issue as the interference. Ours measures ~120 dB from 20 feet away.
Ever shrunk quarters or other coinage with capacitive discharge? Haven't tried that but it certainly is tempting.
Stu
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If you want it to break, buy Sony!
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#114084 - 03/09/2002 09:46
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: maczrool]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Your nonchalant description ("running ours out in the driveway while watching TV") makes me wonder...
What are tesla coils actually good for? Other than fun demonstrations of high voltage arcs and shrinking coins. Are they actually used for anything?
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#114085 - 03/09/2002 09:51
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: tfabris]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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I can't believe that you never played C&C:Red Alert. I intend to mount on on my car to ward off potential thieves.
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Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
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#114086 - 03/09/2002 10:15
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/01/2002
Posts: 1649
Loc: Louisiana, USA
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In reply to:
Your nonchalant description ("running ours out in the driveway while watching TV") makes me wonder... In reply to:
If you are implying that we leave it running unattended, then you would be mistaken. That would result in an almost guaranteed lawsuit. Actually, what I meant was that while I am at the "controls" outside, other members of the family are still able to watch TV inside the house.
As far as what they are used for, well I guess there is no practical purpose. It's just very impressive to see in operation. The ozone, the buzzing, and big bolts of "lightning" are quite an experience. The inventor, Tesla used them to transmit electricity wirelessly, by tuning the coil to the point where it no longer made sparks. He could then power things in the vicinity of the coil just by grounding them. At least that's my take on it. It probably wasn't the safest concept and never really caught on.
Stu
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If you want it to break, buy Sony!
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#114087 - 03/09/2002 10:52
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: maczrool]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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> Ever shrunk quarters or other coinage with capacitive discharge? Haven't tried that but it certainly is tempting.
This is a fascinating thread. You people are insane...genius, but insane. I had no idea about some of this stuff. If anybody is wondering about coin-shrinking like I was, there is a good page here with pictures and coins for sale.
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Ninti - MK IIa 60GB Smoke, 30GB, 10GB
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#114088 - 03/09/2002 16:49
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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From PBS's Tesla: Master of Lightning: Applications
If, as happened in practice, Tesla made an antenna of the high-voltage end of his secondary, it became a powerful radio transmitter. In fact, in the early decades of radio, most practicable radios utilized Tesla coils in their transmission antennas. Tesla himself used larger or smaller versions of his invention to investigate fluorescence, x-rays, radio, wireless power, biological effects, and even the electromagnetic nature of the earth and its atmosphere.
Today, high-voltage labs often operate such devices, and amateur enthusiasts around the world build smaller ones to create arcing, streaming electrical displays—it is not difficult to reach a quarter million volts. (One of the very first particle accelerator designs, by Rolf Wideroe in 1928, generated its high voltage in a Tesla coil.) The coil has become a commonplace in electronics, used to supply high voltage to the front of television picture tubes, in a form known as the flyback transformer.
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Bitt Faulk
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#114089 - 03/09/2002 19:13
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ah, a flyback transformer is a Tesla coil. Okay, now I'm clear on it.
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#114090 - 03/09/2002 19:48
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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The practical application, basically, is that it can generate a looooot of voltage.
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Bitt Faulk
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#114091 - 03/09/2002 20:03
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: wfaulk]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/01/2002
Posts: 1649
Loc: Louisiana, USA
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In reply to:
it can generate a looooot of voltage.
FYI:
According to someone in the business making Tesla coils, it takes a 9 foot spark to achieve 1,000,000 volts. This figure was derived from measured quantities of x-rays generated by x-ray tubes coupled in some way to an operating Tesla coil. Similarly, a 5 foot spark represents 500,000 volts, indicating a nonlinear relationship between spark length and voltage output.
Stu
_________________________
If you want it to break, buy Sony!
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#114092 - 03/09/2002 20:23
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: maczrool]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1525
Loc: Arizona
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I use to build a ton of tesla coils. They work great for defending your base... 
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#114093 - 04/09/2002 10:55
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: maczrool]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 20/01/2002
Posts: 2085
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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That's about right.... electricity takes about 10,000 volt to jump an inch through non-ionized air. 1MV / 10kV =100
So 100 inches for 1,000,000 Volts. = 8.33 feet
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#114094 - 04/09/2002 14:49
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: Tim]
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addict
Registered: 05/06/2002
Posts: 497
Loc: Hartsville, South Carolina for...
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I was amazed this thread made it this long with a Command and Conquer stab.
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Michael West
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#114095 - 04/09/2002 15:13
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: revlmwest]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Wasn't there one earlier?
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#114096 - 26/09/2002 01:23
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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I realize this thread is a month old now, but I saw this and thought it was pretty crazy:
More here
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Ninti - MK IIa 60GB Smoke, 30GB, 10GB
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#114097 - 26/09/2002 01:46
Re: Anyone ever built a Tesla coil?
[Re: lectric]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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My God... How similar guys are across the planet... I too, built a million+ V Tesla, a jacobs ladder, a potato gun, burned all the skin off my left ring finger knuckle with white phosphorus, made shaped-charges out of M80's, sucked gasoline through a tube-style vacuum (very cool, btw). I have a 2 inch hole in my desk from burning phosphorus ribbons (in my bedroom, with a little loop in the ribbon - DUH). Burned a hole in the street at 2AM with thermite, and all sorts of idiotic, I can't believe I'm still alive, kinds of stupid ideas when I was younger. Haha...
man... why weren't you MY friend when i was a kid... all we did was pour gas or alcohol on our skateboards and ride them flaming down the street. Then there was the gunpowder we removed from all those shotgun shells.... but thermite!! Come on man! That's where the real fun is.
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