From the archive: originally published 2013
SGTC
This was my first attempt at a Tesla coil ever. Despite its flaws the coil still managed to create some 1/2 inch arcs to air and light many fluorescent tubes.
Recovered from the old goodchildengineering.com (Wayback Machine copy). Text as published in 2013; specs are as built then.
This was my first attempt at a Tesla coil ever. I had been playing around with flyback transformers out of old tube TV sets for a couple months and I figured it was time to do something a little more exciting with them. I knew very little about Tesla coils at the time so the performance of the coil was some what hindered due to lack of a tuned primary LC and poor construction overall. Despite these flaws the coil still managed to create some 1/2 inch arcs to air and light many fluorescent tubes.
The high voltage supply was a 555 + IRFP260 MOSFET flyback driver from Uzzors2k site
The tank capacitor consisted of two beer bottle salt water capacitors of unknown value, in series with a PVC screw spark gap and a random turn primary. The secondary was a hand wound 4 x 1.5 inch winding of 30AWG wire on a PVC form.
Here is the SGTC in action with a clear light bulb on top of the secondary winding. A nearby compact fluorescent lamp is also being lit about 6 inches away wireless. As seen in the photo it is almost as bright as it would be being powered from a regular 120VAC outlet.
The PVC spark gap is also visible behind the coil and CFC.
Some more Photos of the coil running.
