Grounding Rod

The grounding rod is an essential piece of the tesla coil yet it is very simple to make and use. All you need to do is shove a metal pole as deep into the ground as you can. This is needed for your tesla coil to work safely and if you have a safety gap like me you need somewhere to vent the feedback. 

To make it work, just make a wire coming from the neon sign transformer ground terminal, the bottom wire of the secondary coil and the grounding terminal of the safety gap to the grounding rod when you run the transformer. This will make everything work properly!

Next: Step down Transformer

Capacitor Bank

The capacitor bank and primary coil make up the primary circuit for the tesla coil. Now if you have done the math correctly in one of the first steps you should know which capacitors your using, how many of them in a string and how many parallel strings there are. If you do not know this re-read the maths steps. If you are making a tesla coil the same as mine you will need 9 of these in series with only one string.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1250V-0-15uF-POLYPROPOLENE-CAPACITOR-WITH-METAL-FILM-ROHS-COMPLIANT-NEW-/400337027811?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item5d35f242e3

This step is not hard; all you need to do is make something to hold your components  on and do some wiring. I suspended a piece of balsa wood by 1cm high dowels and on the wood would be the circuitry for the bank. Once you have that you need to solder the wires. Put one of the resistors i put in the parts list between each cap and just wire then in series or parallel depending on what your maths tells you. My one just had all nine caps in a string one after the other with a resistor after each one. Don't bother connecting the start and the end of the string to anything yet. 

Once this is done, stick the bank to the main frame of the tesla coil ready to be hooked up in a later step.

Next Step: Grounding Rod

Neon Sign Transformer/ Update

Ok so its been a while. Sorry I have been distracted by many things and getting the NST was a NIGHTMARE.

To help you all out this post will explain how to get a neon sign transformer/NST.

Modern day NST's have a GFCI chip in them that basically make making tesla coils or anything else with them very very difficult. Thats why people say get older NST's as they don't have the chip in. Now in england its impossible to get an NST that does not have the GFCI in. It is possible to buy one and take the chip out but its hard and if done wrong can kill the transformer. The only way to get one will be to order one of ebay coming from america and with there outrages weight, the shipping charge is about £100!. This is why it took me ages to get one as I was looking for one that was cheap. If you live in america its fine but if not I advise going here. There shipping charges are cheaper but still quite expensive.

- http://www.amazing1.com/tesla-accessories-books/?sort=featured&page=5

The website is great for high voltage projects including jacobs ladders, rail guns and lasers. (Might be my next project)

I got the 6kv one. Any way that is why this project has not been updated in awhile so thanks for being patient!

Next: Capacitor Bank

The Secondary Coil

The secondary coil and the topload makes up the secondary circuit. This part is the easiest to do but defiantly the longest, most tedious and the most boring to do. All you have to do is coil your magnet wire round your tube. If you are using the same ratings as mine you need to wrap hair thin wire around a half meter long 10cm radius tube. Takes a VERY long time!

 The easiest way to do it is put a pipe through your tube and put each end of the pipe on a chair. Then use one hand to turn the tube and the other to guide the wire. 

Once done, sand about 3cm around each end of the wire and just leave the ends to hang. Then paint the whole thing in 2-3 coatings of clear varnish or clear coat.

Finished, varnished, secondary!

Next Step: Capacitor Bank

The Primary Coil

The Primary Coil is one of the two parts that makes up the primary circuit. This is the high voltage exposed coil so DO NOT touch it when the coil is on. Now you can use a normal wire for the primary but it is better if it is a copper tube. This part is harder than it looks as getting and securing the tube in place without it moving is not easy. I did it by cutting holes in pipes and sticking the pipes with supper glue onto the coil base I made in the first step. You can just drill holes in the wood as it would be easier but I did not have a drill at hand so I used my solder to burn through the plastic pipes.

Pipes stuck on to frame
with coil ready to be added.

Pipe with holes in.

Now just thread the primary coil tube through the holes to make the pancake shape we need. Don't forget to use the measurments in the CAD program when making the primary. If you are making one with the same ratings as mine you will need 5 meters of this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-4mm-microbore-copper-plumbing-pipe-tube-x-1-Metre-/110522134268?pt=UK_DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item19bba1eefc

Tapped between turns 6-7.

AS this wire is not very malleable you will need to put the pipes on the coil of wire BEFORE you glue it to the wooden base. It takes a long time but it can be done with some patience. 

Next Step: The Secondary Coil

The Safety Gap

The Safety gap IS NOT THE SAME as the spark gap!

The safety gap is a basic component used for high voltage Tesla Coils only. It is basically a way to protect all the circuits components from a high voltage feed back. Sometimes a high voltage feed back comes back from the primary coil into the transformer burning it out and blowing out the caps. If the output spark from the coil hit the primary coil then the same would happen but worse. There would be no way to repair it you would need to buy new capacitors and a new neon sign transformer. The safety gap is a basic part that will prevent and feed back or arks from the primary from damaging any of the circuits components.

The safety gap is like a spark gap but there is never a spark going between the three terminals. Instead, if a high voltage is feed back or arks from the toroid, it will trigger the spark gap and both terminals will fire into the middle terminal. The middle terminal is grounded so all the power will be vented to ground keeping the circuits components safe. Just think of it as a spark gap that will only work when there is a really high voltage and when it does all that voltage is send straight to ground.

This component is OPTIONAL in you Tesla Coil; it is not required to run but it is advised that you do use one as a safety precaution.

To make it just put three screws in a line through wood making them relatively close, make sure only the middle one goes through the bottom of the wood. Cover both of the other screws in glue but no the screw head. This will make it so the spark can only ark out of the screw head and not the rest of it. Then just hook the safety gap in parallel with the transformer and hook the middle screw to ground (Preferably to an outside grounding rod). You gap should be good to go.

You can use the depth of middle screw to make the gap smaller or bigger.

Next step: Secondary Coil

The Spark Gap

If you know how a Tesla coil works then you will know what a spark gap is and what it does, if you dont I will now explain. The spark gap is a voltage controlled switch and is literally a very small gap about 1cm between one of the Tesla Coil wires. There needs to be a high voltage and if there is than the electricity will be able to jump the gap taking time. The Capacitors need time to fill up and discharge so this spark gap gives them it. The bigger the spark gap, the more time there is for the caps to fill resulting in a bigger output from the coil. I will be making a more advanced spark gap by housing it in a balsa wood tube with a fan at each end. The fans are set so one will suck and one will blow out. I have done this for two reasons:

• Firstly because high voltage travelling through are creates ozone that needs to be vented.
• Secondly because the spark can jump the gap easier if there is a lower air pressure and the fans should create this.

You dont have to have any fans you can just use two open ended wires but this one will work better and I already had the fans. The electrodes I used were just stainless steel screws. I used screws so i could turn one of them so i could control the size of the gap. This way I can change the gap size when ever I want and make the coil more efficient. I have also hooked up a switch box so I can turn on and off the fans when I want. I will also probably hook up other things to the switches such as turning on and off the coil itself.

I have already kind of explained how to make it. Just ajusd the size of the gap so it is at its larges before the spark not jumping and your coil will work well.

Wiring the switch to the fans.

As I have said; making the fans and switch is optional, having a spark gap is not. You must have one for the coil to work!

Next step: Safety Gap