A years work have come to an end with a beautiful and stunning display of loud crackling sparks flying out at 150 centimetres!
Read more about the construction and see all the photos and videos here: http://kaizerpowerelectronics.dk/tesla-coils/kaizer-drsstc-i/
Hi Mads,
Did the helical primary ever cause you any problems? I’m designing a DRSSTC now, but more based on loneocean’s DRSSTC-2 (single CM200 half bridge), but I would like to possibly go with a helical (cylindrical) primary like yours here (and like most of Steve Ward’s earlier coils) but I don’t see any modern examples with such… why is that?
Thank you, & keep up the great work.
-Adam
Hi Adam
No it did no cause any trouble in operation, it is just a pain in the ass to build. It does however introduce some limitations to how hard you can push the coil, you will quickly see racing sparks due to natural higher coupling.
I also think that a flat primary coil gives a magnetic field with a more even horizontal alignment than a helical coils does.
Kind regards
Mads
Thank you Mads!
I will probably stick with a flat primary to avoid the racing sparks.
By the way, have you ever heard of the Facebook group called “Tesla Coils are Boss”? You should join it! I am on there, as well as many other tesla-coilers, spark-gap and solid-state, including the newbies and the well-seasoned coilers. We could always use more members who know their stuff well!
Thanks again,
Adam Mizban
Hi Adam
Helical is fine for a “set” coil that will operate moderately, but I would for the most parts also go with a flat primary as it can tolerate more abuse and its easier to make.
I am already in coilsmiths and science and high voltage groups, I really do prefer homepages and forums as they are open to search engines. Everything ever put in a facebook group is off-limit for non-member, not indexed by search engines, hard to arrange and search for information. I do not find social media fitting for the scientific method as its so closed.
Kind regards
Mads
Thanks Mads,
That is very true about Facebook, and I hadn’t really thought about it like that before…
It’s just that there’s lots of newbies asking for help on basic stuff, it’s kinda fun to help them out (and also very distracting!) But I also like the relaxed atmosphere of it; it’s more of a place where people share their coils, and their opinions, and not as much people seeking legitimate build-design details. However, I agree that it is not conducive to building a historical record of data, so it is likely not contributing to the scientific community.
The only thing, to me, that seems to be a good reason to participate in the Facebook group, is the idea that I am somehow helping regulate the general population’s view of Tesla coils, when, without the inclusion of science-minded individuals, the community would be left open-ended to all sorts of misinformation being spread by people who are not so educated. (I believe a simple Facebook-page is more representative of the general population) I think it is important to note that there is a higher volume of communication which occurrs on the Fb page, more than any forum, which presents a higher probability of misinformation being spread. There is no doubt a fair share of members who hold non-scientific opinions, (think of all the people on the Internet who don’t have a higher education, who like to believe practically anything they read, especially about Nikola Tesla, regarding the many pseudoscientific beleifs that revolve around his name) I just think it’s important to keep that counterbalanced, even though the majority of discourse is build-advice and sharing pics/vids.
Anyway, that’s just my anthropological/sociological standing on the matter… it’s not meant to be an argument for why Facebook is better, because Facebook isn’t better.
I will be sure to divert more of my questions to your forum!
Thanks again,
Adam Mizban