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    19 Building a Mini Tesla Coil

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    44 views9 pages

    19 Building A Mini Tesla Coil

    Uploaded by

    Puscasu Marin

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    SCIENCE] “=” Experimenter | s< Projects No. 557 Poblubed by SCIENCE ond MECHANICS Mogazine Generator Cloud Chambers High-Voltage Traveling Arc Magnetic Pendulum ‘Chemical Balance Satellite “Scope Weather instruments Light Ray Tracer Miniature Tesla Coil Wimshurst Static Machine Solar Furnace Electronic Stethoscope od otvar Tyme tee TUR ne UT Ree bo Oi geome Sire tts ee ihe hee a asce crotomes, -Pholometer, Transit, ~ often ase an ep ife i dio tectlver For Stage the oni othe npenkar ost ne are dosed sectninjen ce modulate pe ie bene oor reformers A geal oducts the neces- Soe ope is connected fT cons ta paiers show: “curve of single: = gurgat retoen with he tore from he adjustments st sully neces 2 or ef the variable SF this work, “tpplcation of the ni industry that ul describe them Thould have some jestiity and elec c tarament BOP “pooks on the su stay among them heir Use by Jacob Dany, 22 Madi. eat Scope Traces by ider Publisher, Ine, 3, N.Y. Zytick, ‘Gernsback st Broadway, New Penny sulph-hydrate of am- will give good results th galic-seld IME. Building a Miniature TESLA COIL Miniature in size only, this physics classroom project packs 60,000 volts of power at 500,000 cycles per second. Yet it's safe! Craft Print Project No. 290 plate current maximum, and the plate voltage is upplied at 1200 volts from a Stancor PC-B4l4 power transformer with 200 milliamps, max. rat- Risoacen lamps clow buihily by merely bling Tog. Except for the transformer's Primary and Eemtorcr'de Teas ilwhen 41 opealag You $8, Baoept for the transfor x can “make magic” by hiding the coll in the next 2,000-volt leads, all other leads are taped and are Sine dane cht sarilon wel; when the Bnotacest not used. Only high-grade mica tranenitting ca- Keay Wmoved ete to heron he wal alps pecitors are wed (poor qualty eapacitors will i gly tesa. Mois ol el it bbreale dow quickly under the 2 Se high voltage) and the filament transformer is a Stancor’ P- 5015, having a ceniertspped TS.volt winding to supply the tube filament. The entre unit ie secured to a hardweod-veneet Plywood base First, get all the materials required’ (see Materials List) and thea make the unit base from Sin. birch, walnut of manogany-vencer plywood By HAROLD P. STRAND ‘OU can make spectacular demonstrations YY cringe youe studying the effects ofhigh frequency current. ‘That's just what Nicola Tesla did with his famous induction coll back in 1892, Although you will be ‘experimenting with 60,000 vols, it is quite harm- Jess because of its high frequency of 500,000 cycles per second. Currents of high frequencies travel lover conductor rirfaoes only, 20 that contact ‘with it results in the current’ going over your skin to @ ground, thus avoiding possible injury to internal organs. ‘The coll uses only one oscillator tube which is ‘enclosed with the other power-supply components in a transparent plastic housing for safety and fs a showease. "The coil is mounted on « trans- arent plastic base with a clear plastic cylinder enclosing the primary section of the coll for pro- tection from its high voltage (Fig. 2). Careful ‘tention has been given to insulation of the coll gud all wiring 0 that leakage has been reduced ‘2 minimum. ay eat ‘The tube used is the Hytron S614 transmitting jitrfc snore, Gail ena Sil wing Woe plore nlonre. Coll and all wilag ie well inte type which operates on about 175 milliamperes "ioted Yo reduce curtent lnkege to © minimum, A UaEA Reade ENE 70880) Ee SERN ST euxwoo0 (Fig. 3). Send the edges and top, and apply oil Stain of the color desired, Let sand 5 minutes and wipe off surplus with a cloth. After sain Gries, apply two coats of white shellac, cut vith Gn equal amount of wood alcohol and sand exch oat lightly with 6-0 paper. Finish with several coats of paste wax, ‘Make the secondary coil from a clear Lucite tube. (Fig, 2A.) Chuck the tube ia a lathe and, SY claw apesdy rind oi singlay soos layer tH Formvar magnet wire, keeping start and finish ends Yin, from endsof tube, Dri two small holes St start ond finish points for wire ends to pass ‘through for soldered connections to short, insu- Infed Hevible loads (Pig, 2A and H). Secure ‘winding temporarily around the start and Snish with adhesive tape until the connections bave heen soldered. Winding must be done earefally swith no overlapping of tums or kinks, ‘To make the comections, use. short lengths of plastic- insulated $2528 stranded wite; bare ends and pass through one hole from insile of tube; ‘inding ond through other hols and out with (Gut OFF HEAD) FoR wie #25-28 PLasmics vereo ie ‘couares gone TO CLEAR KUT adie ifaw so sora cea oF C Scone ook UE tat r ae GRID colt SS a cul ove Tuy at Tas PONT ¢ Re iy, -Opo"acuninae “(3 AER) Eg, les flexible lead; twis! into a short, pigtail splice on ide of tube ard solder, using resin-core type (ig. 3-4 and H). To solder, Formvar insulation ‘must first be removed. This is best done with a Tighted match held under the wire for « few sec- ‘nds. Then, use a piece of fine sandpaper to clean the end to the bare copper. Handle carefully as this fine wire breaks easily. After soldering, bend splice against tube and use two turns of plastic tape around Inst few turns of wire and over spllea to hold and insulate it The exact number of tums in this secondary coll is not important, so you need not count them, but if wound correctly, there should be about 1,800 turns. Next, make two discs from clear Lucite flat stock, finished to ft tightly into tube ends, Drill ‘a #9 hole and tap three 440 holes in top dise as. in Fig. 3B, for aitaching stand-off insulator. In ‘method “a” (Fig. -B), pass flexible lead through. hhole in dise and attach dise to tube with Lucite cement. Method “b” requires a ie-in. stove-bolt assembly to which flexible lead is attached with puts, Cover nuts with soveral coats of varnish or EERIE STR IT souneReD fue ces PLISTIC™ D nke, INTER BORE: LEAR NUT ut 9 COL 0 828 TURNS APPROK) Rian (of prey UIE BLO one with a a few see. er to clean srefully as ring, bend, of plastic over splice mber of portant, 80 | correctly, Lucite fat ends. Drill top dise as sulator. In ad through vith Lucite stove-bolt ached with wth or sj gel nein iat cee tion ‘ ‘SCIENCE EXPERIMENTER " Yel Bs clon i = pacts AUS tetera Al de mas ae ah cana aE eng at ten Chae ais an Baas fr seta tam is DrrL re ir smeterelite. 1b (PISS & Seprera tata tale ley erage nse te seman ter HOI PASTA LSet a fo ay nb Sa oe Maget Wire ho #2 Frm Cet) 28 Forma? tr grit Cit BRO 22 tmnt eda ea (204 a4 332 Former lpg ein taped by at ‘1 Tctrole tomers 2, poesia, tabi rata pe, rnd te = ct doa ‘1SS48 act mtr OB: fe tse awe trnstorm Stare Hane afore Ne feat sno, Same 3125 vl TMATENIALS LiST—INIATURE TESLA COIL ‘ube late car, Millen 35001 or cult Ya? sae ore 2anh ip ope 3.40 2s nina 50 wats ‘in artnet fr eo a Va aire 2 ero blest comme 226 Mt nual lamp end 2 i : i i i 1 Bic aides w a ls init an for $,000 volts of ae Cie pe Sai sie sl srante wire, lr elie lates fr gel we PP rian ming tte, 25514 (aie wie tbe an secet" ean ets ne Sapte teat Ate: A mals Sein urease, cut of tullog is Tela it petted cg Selustayeiuitn) wl Be aac 0, estates eur ware tapes" sed Maal rk ann 0. assembly completed, apply four coats of Bakeliteresin spar ver~ nish to the coil in even, emoo:h coats, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly. While the varnish is drying, you ean make up the coil base (Fig. 1-F). Cut the Lucite hase parts ac- cording to dimensions in Mate- Hials List and finish edges Smooth and square, In the top, rill all the holes indicated in Fig. 4, with the exception of the 8 bracket holes; these are high voltage “dope” to prevent corona discharge here; then, cement, Drill a #27 hole in the center of the bottom dise for a 682% 1¥4 in. sh brass screw and nut, Connect the flexible lead under ‘head of this screw. A ground-wire is later con- rected to this sorew under the base top, ‘The top insulator is of brown, glazed porcelain and has a base about 24a. dia. (Fig. 3-D), com- monly called a beehive or stand-off type for sup- porting high-voltage wire sbove a surface. The ‘one we used was discoveral on the surplus coun- ter of an elestronics-supply store. If you cannot find one of a size to fit the end of the tube, use the top half of a feed-through porcelain insulator (method “b” Fig, $-£), With the secondary-coll best drilled after brackets have Jbeen attached to primary coll form (Fig. -J). In the right side picce, drill holes as in Fig. 5 for the plastic-insulated leads (Pig. 3-K). To cement the base parts together, pour a small quantity of the exment on a sheet of fat glace and place plastic edge in puddle for about 20-30 sec; sliding edge sround to make sure all edge surfaces have contacted cement. Then, place edge in position against piece to be joined, iding edge back and forth a few times. ‘Then, apply pressure with clamps or weights Jor several hours. Rehardening takes a few hours, When cement has hardened, attach secondary- coll form to top of bese with preset 6-32 brass serew, securing as in Fig. $1. “Now, wind the primary and grid eotl on a piece of clear Lucite tubing ‘in. dia. (Fig. 3J and K). ‘The primary winding requires 18 tums of two #15 Formvar wires in parallel. (two wires for each turn), ends of wires formed into loops to fit over the terminal screws tapped ints two clear Lucite blocks cemented to tube—or you ean use ‘one #12 Formvar magnet wire (same mumber of turns). ‘The grid winding consists of 20 turns of #24 Formvar wire, ends left long enough to be csrried through drilled holes in tubing, down in- side of tube and through holes in base to termi nal-strip screws (as in Fig. 4). Cover these leads from inside of coll form to terminal strip with plastic spaghettictype tubing.” Don't forget to clean Formvar wire wherever connections are ‘made, Assembly completed, ap- ply Bakelite resin spar varnish ‘o coils as with secondary coil. Now, from a piece of Bakelite ‘ubing, cut an insulator sleeve (Fig. -G), slip over secondary- coil form for a tight St over form's base which has been enlarged with tums of plastic tape (Fig. 3H). When grid- primary coils have dried, slip form over secondary coil and sitach to Lucite base top with Pangle brackets (Fig. 21). Use about 18-in. Jong flex- {asulation for the primary col); connect to screws on terminal blocks and thread through basetop holes, under base and out of side (Fig. 5). Use shout 15-in. long flexible, #16 stranded wire having 1,000-volt plastic insulation for the grid leads; connect to screws of terminal strip (under base) and out through base side. Tse 15-in, long Haxible, #16 stranded wire with reqular plastic insulation for ground lead, eon necting: with a washer and nut to secondary coil serew under base top and out through center tole in base side (Figs. Cand 5). Now attach ‘What we notelly consiger'a good intulaior prover Inoliective ‘wien ‘uied aquint this nabirequency, Aighivellage carest. Tha ‘acharge lesps serves te ‘Gop Gs Une barvior oxiset. Clip lead thown ts at eee SCIENCE EXPERIMENTER coll-base assembly to plywood base with two angle brackets and #6 rh wood screws (Fig. -F). ‘The next step is to install the power-supply ‘components and its protective plastic cover. First cut and drill the % x 144. 10liiq in, Bakelite strip and % x 8 x 8% in, Lucite front piece as detailed in 19A. Then attach both strip and front pieces to plywood base with aluumintim angles as in Fig. 12Ga. With some narrow masking tape, ‘outline the locations of the coverside and base ‘on the plywood base to give you an idea of clear- ances needed when arranging and attaching the various power components to the base (Fig. 12). ‘The Stancor PC-84ld power transformer is used as a plate transformer by covering the ends of the unwanted leads with tape and tucking them neatly under the transformer, Use the t¥o black primary and the two plain red leads which will give you 1200 volts, Cut four Ye in. long ‘Tom on the power and the lomp wil ght to fall exndleyower without ible, 18 stranded wire hav conductor routed Jor ordinary current, It recniver is noved, dae ot ‘ng 5000-volt or higher plastic coil Temp will glow to a bvigtheas beyond ite ecpuclly avd bate’ oot sles as ; tape, i back clear ng the g-12). sends soking transformer feet to clear the leads (Fig. 12-A). Connect components with at least #16 ga. plas. tic-covered stranded wire. Use solder of solder- Jese connecting lags on all wire ends connecting to serew-nut terminals and solder all other con- nections. Bring the line cord through a rubber grommet mounted on an aluminum angle brac- feet and knot the cord to relieve strain (Fig, 32D). Attach a surface-mount fuse holder and 2 Samp, SAG Slo-Blo glass fuse and connect {n series’ with one side of the line. In use, the ‘Teas coil will draw about 4 amps. Mount the adjustable grid resistor over the 0005 mfa. capacitor with an aluminum bracket attached to one terminal, using & 6-32 7h screw ‘and nut. Solder a flexible lead to the adjusting strap and connect other end to other eapacitor terminal (Fig. 1-D). Mount « ground terminal post on an aluminum angle bracket as in Fig. IEE A ground wire from post to a water pipe; if practical, is best but not essential” Use a 2° term. barrier stip, located as in Fig. 12F for a convenient connection point for all wiring going to ground (one pair of terminals not used). Two ‘015 mid. capacitors across the coll primary (Fig. 12) are shown connected in paral. One 003 mia. capacitor can be used instead, if avall- able, ‘The Hytron-tube plate cap of porcelain is comected to one of the above eapacitr termi- nals exactly as in Fig, 12, Values given for the espacitors must be closely followed, especially the two in parallel (each 0015 ma). With the specified number of turns in the primary coi, as was described earlier, the valve of 03 mid. brings the coll nto proper resonance, a maxi- mum discharge of about 45 tn. beng obtained from the top of the secondary coll. The 4. dia. of the primary col is a must otherwise the in- Gucunce would be affected, sequiring a diferent ‘capacitor value. ‘The Glament transformer te « Stancor P-5015, = : ecated as in Tig. 12-B. Use two Jig OD. x % in. eng Bakelite tube spacers under the Hytron- tube socket te clear the terminals, only three of which are used (Fig. 12-C), With all connections securely attached, set the adjustable grid resistor for about 1,50) to 1,800 obms with an ohmmeter and then use # de, milliammeter with scale ‘of from 0-800 or 500, Disconnect filament trans- former center-tap lead from terminal strip (Figs. 4 and 11), and connect ammeter in series (meter “plus” terminal connected to transformer lead) as in Figs. I and 14. Plug in line cord and turn, on lament switch (Fig. 12H). Allow about half 8 minute for tube warm up and then throw ‘on plate switsh (Fig. 12). ‘The meter should show a reading of about 113 milliamperes, maxd- mum capacity of tube (slightly under is better to prevent overheating of tube-plate element). ‘There should also be @ good brush discharge from the top of the secondary coll—dbout 4 in. Ti the reading is low, abut off power and adjust grid resistor for less resistance; if high, increase resistance, Always make certain line plug is dis- connected from power source before attempting any adjustments or work sround the connections. ‘The voltage is high and dangerous. Don't ber come careless! In the test (Fig. 14), the meter read approximately 175 ma, after resistor had been adjusted. A dif-in. high discharge at the secondary-coil tip resulted. In use the Hytron- tube plate may glow dull red after 10-15 minutes ‘of constant eperation. This is normal, If the plate gets any brighter, reduce the grid drive ‘by cutting in more resistance, or else turn unit of for a short time to allow tube to coal Failure to get a brush discharge as described may be due to wrong connections, defective ea ‘pacitors, possible wrong capacitor values, or an ‘error in mumber of winding turns in primary ‘and/or grid exila, Coils must all be wound in the same direction without splices or defective spots ‘over thelr entize length. Ia some cases due to 1m the accepted tblerance of 59% plus or ‘minus in ‘capacitor marked values, the capacitors used ‘across the coll primary may not be exactly cor rect for resonance and others may have to be fried. ‘Try adding another capacitor of about 001 mfa, in parallel with other two. This com- bined value of 004 may do the trick: Possibly a Tittle less eapacitance is needed, so try one of 001 in place of one of the .0015, A coil form not of the diameter specified also will cause failure to operate. ‘To keep the cost of the coil down, the use of surplus mica transmitting capacitors is suggested. If bought through normal supply dealers, these unite cost from $7.41 to $1017 cach. Surplus capacitors of this type usually sell for about $1.50 to. $225, depending on the voltage rating, ‘The following surplus electronic sipply dealers might be tried for the desired velues.. Specify mica transmitting type of Cornell Dubilier, Sprague, Sangamo or similar high grade make. ‘Standard Radio, 86 Franklin Street, New York, reports that they have 003 mfa. 3900 volt, 0015 ‘if, 5000 volt, 003 5000 volt, .0005 mf. 3000 volt Price from $1.50 to $225 each, quantity limited. Electro Sales, 50 Easter Avenue, Boston, ‘Mass, has several values but not quoted. ‘Enclosing the high-voltage components to pre- vent accidental shock is a must. Clear Lucite ig ideal for this purpote since it serves as good SCIENCE EXPERIMENTER insulation and as a showcase, particularly for

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