http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Home   Sign Up!   Browse   Community   Submit

   All     Art     Craft     Food     Games     Green     Home     Kids     Life     Music     Offbeat     Outdoors     Pets     Photo     Ride     Science     Tech

MINI TESLA COIL 100KV!!!! (revised)by Jimmy Proton on April 17, 2011

Table of Contents

MINI TESLA COIL 100KV!!!! (revised) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro:   MINI TESLA COIL 100KV!!!! (revised) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1:   You will need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 2:   Spark gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 3:   Capacitor bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 4:   The secondary and primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 5:   Wire it all up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Author:Jimmy ProtonI am a Baptist Christian, I live in the USA, my dad was an electrical engineer in the navy, my uncle and grandpa are both engineers, I am interested in building and taking things apart, I love high current/voltage, and I am overly obsessed with microwaves yet i do not have any of my own.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................I love.............technology.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................my room is always a messeven when i clean it....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................transformers are my favorite electronic/electricalparts..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OOo! I like skinny girls! alot!

Intro:  MINI TESLA COIL 100KV!!!! (revised)On my last instructable about my mini Tesla Coil I did not do so well because I did not know much about them but since then I have learned much more and have batterplans.

How it works: First off the mains goes through a high voltage transformer and charges the capacitor bank. When the caps are done charging they will let the high voltagefrom the transformer "pass" through them. During that split second (much to fast for a human to detect) the arc will jump through the spark gap, which is automated withRSGTC's, the caps will discharge into the primary coil. This is where resonance comes in, the fast action of the caps and spark gap rapidly induces an electromagneticfield around the primary, what many dont know is it starts off as a low voltage that adds up each time the spark gap fires until it creates extra high voltage

-=This project deals with high voltage that could potentially be lethal, do not touch the streamers unless you know what your doing=-

-=never operate high voltage equipment before turning it off=- 

-=I will be some information from my other instructable=-

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Step 1: You will need1' tall 1/2" diameter PVC pipe or other non conductive cylinder about 5' of speaker wire, I didn't have enough of the thicker gauge wire8" tall 1" diameter PVC pipe, you can use something a little wider but I couldn't find anything10kV 23mA ignition transformer, you can get them on eBay for about $20-$4015 1kV 0.01uF film capacitorsabout 300ft of 32 awg mag wiresome 18 awg solid copper wire to connect everything2 round headed bolts or "i" screws, try to keep them as smooth as possible a 10"x4" piece of woodcopper connectors or some 1" bolts with nutsa drill with various sized bitsa hot glue guna soldering iron, with solder

Image Notes1. I found these at the junk yard.

Image Notes1. hot glue gun

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Image Notes1. drill

Image Notes1. wood

Image Notes1. knife

Image Notes1. different bit sizes

Image Notes1. about 5'

Image Notes1. connectors.2. secondary. Glued to the base from the last time I made this.3. light bulb to act as a plasma globe.

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Step 2: Spark gapThis is one of the most important part of the whole resonating thing, you could compare it to the heart in the brain, the brain cant control the hear without blood and theheart can't supply blood without the brain. with the heart being the spark gap and the brain being the capacitors: the capacitors charge up via the transformer, when theyare charged the spark gap fires and releases its energy into the primary. without the spark gap you would have continuous input into the primary and without thecapacitors all the power would just go straight through the spark gap. So lets make a spark gap.

If your using bolts:Take two 2"x2" pieces of wood and drill a hole in the middle that can fit the bolts and put a nut on them to secure them or if the wood can hold them in place then dontworry about the nut. now glue these on the board in front of the inputs, the capacitors come after, then the primary, then the secondary.

If your using "i" screws:First drill 2 holes at an angle where ever your going to position your gap, now screw them into the hole and adjust them until the are at an appropriate length apart . 

Image Notes1. spark gap.

Step 3: Capacitor bankThe amount of capacitance is determined by the input current, I'm not entirely sure how to calculate this but I would be grateful for anyone who could post a comment onwhat the equation is. Now it just so happens that the amount  of capacitance we need is exactly the capacitance of the capacitors so we dont need to worry aboutsoldering them in parallel, we just need to do something about the voltage so we only have to solder them in series. Its best to have the overall voltage of the capacitorbank about 2 or 3 times the about of voltage going in, so-we are using a 10kV 23mA transformer to power it, our capacitors are 1kV 10nF. Solder all the capacitors inseries to increase the voltage to 15kV and were not going to solder any in parallel because like I said, the capacitance is perfect. You may want to put a 10M ohm resistoracross the leads to discharge the capacitors after use, you will also need to hot glue the capacitor lead to keep them from sparking over if you built yours like mine. 

-=I did not get any pictures on how I made this because I built it for version 3 which I did not make an instructable on=-

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Step 4: The secondary and primarysecondary:This will take a lot of time do do but is pretty easy. All you have to do is wrap the 32 awg wire around the PVC pipe until there is about an inch of space left on each sideand hold in place with tape or do what most people do and cover it in gloss. The way I did mine: I put 3 nails into my desk, on one I put the role of wire, the other two Iused to keep tension on the wire so I could use both hands to hold the pipe, it took me about 1/2 an hour to finish.

 primary:After you have cut your 1" diameter PVC to length grab your speaker wire and wrap it around he pipe. Strip the insulation off one end of the wire, and glue that to thebottom of the pipe. Put the other end in a vice and pull the wire tight (not to tight or the glue will come off), turn the pipe until you are all out of wire, the wire spacingshould be about 1/2" apart. when you get to the end leave a bit of wire sticking out of the end and glue the insulated part to the pipe, now glue every turn to the pipe allthe way down so it never comes loose. 

Glue the secondary onto the end board, I drilled a 1" hole before i glued it on for support. now slide the primary over and glue it to the board after you have centered it. 

In that last picture, the shine is the exposed wire but it looks like reflection on the insulation. 

Image Notes1. about 5'

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Image Notes1. glue.

Image Notes1. exposed copper.

Step 5: Wire it all up

Connect the HV transformer to the AC mains, connect the spark gap in parallel with the HV output, after that connect the capacitor bank series and close it off with theprimary coil. Put the secondary coil inside the primary and hook the bottom wire to ground (I did nothing with it) and add a topload/toroid/torus to increase the voltage andeffects of the sparks. 

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

http://www.instructables.com/id/MINI-TESLA-COIL-100KV-revised/

Image Notes1. spark gap.

Image Notes1. I would suggest using a fan to blow away ozone build up around the spark gapbecause it makes the air more conductive which could causes it to misfire.

Related Instructables

Step By StepPlans toBuilding a250,000 VoltTesla Coil.(REVISEDVERSION) byTesla Coiler

Step By StepPlans ToBuilding A250,000 VoltTesla Coil byTesla Coiler

Tesla Coils forDummies(Photos) byXellers

MINI TESLACOIL by JimmyProton

How to build aTesla Coil byDevCoder How To Build A

Vacuum TubeTesla Coil(VTTC) byXellers