The wiki has recently moved; please report any issues in Discord. Pardon the dust.
Talk:Data Crystal
Ok, I have been compiling all the sources of Tesla coil info I have: (updated Jan 10, 1995)
Sources for Books and Computer Programs on Theory and Design:
Tesla Book Company P.O. Box 121873 Chula Vista, CA 91912 800-398-2056
Lots of titles+IBM compatible software mixed with a bunch of fringe science stuff. I list some of the serious titles below...
International Tesla Society, Inc. P.O. Box 5636 Colorado Springs, CO 80931 719-475-0918 voice 719-475-0582 fax
Lots of overlap with the Tesla Book Co.. I bought my books from here originally. They also have a museum and a yearly conference dealing with all subjects dealing with Tesla. Sell video tapes from the International Tesla Symposium. Of note: look for tapes from the Corum brothers and From Bill Wystock these are the real thing, not the "fringe" stuff. Also look for new books/tapes on the TESLA MAGNIFIER. This this the 3 coil version of the tesla coil (primary, secondary(resonant or nonresonant), magnifier ( resonant)) which tesla experimented with at Colorado Springs. It is more efficent than an ordinary 2 coil system because priamry-secondary coupling can be much tighter.
Lindsay's Technical Books Lindsay Publications, INC PO Box 538, Bradley IL 60915 815-935-5353
Really cool catalog on all sorts of bizzare techie stuff-you should get a catalog just for the entertainment value! Anyway, much of the Tesla stuff is reprints or compilations of old material which is not generally availible at most libraries. Interesting stuff but perhaps not as useful as the newer books. They now have the books by Robert Iannini and Gordon McComb (see below). They have Tesla Coil design software by Walt Noon (I haven't personally seen it although Rickard Quick says he helped Walt develop it) and a couple of small books on building coils. Also, you can get Tesla's "Lectures, Patents, and Researches"...
Recent update here: Lindsay now has the "Tesla Coil Builder's Guide to the Colorado Springs Notes" by Richard Hull of the Tesla Coil Builders of Richmond(Va) (TCBOR). For those unfamiliar with the CSN, they were Telsa's notes of expreiments done during his stay at Colorado Springs. HE developed many of his ideas on MAGNIFIER design there. The CSN are not particularly useful to the hobbiest so Hull wrote some notes which clarify many points of detail. He back up many of his statements with results of impressive work done by the TCBOR. Many of the TCBOR's are shown in excellent photographs of thier standard coil and many different magnifier designs. A MUST HAVE book! About $20.
John H. Couture 10823 New Salem Point San Diego, CA 92126
Computer Design Program and Manuals for tesla coils. I don't have the program, so I can't comment on it. More on the book below.
Other Sources of Information:
Tesla Coil Builder's Association Harry Goldman 3 Amy Lane Queensbury, NY 12804 518-792-1003
TCBA publishes a newsletter 4x a year @$24/year. Information on theory, design, and construction of tesla coils. Also has trade/sale section for those hard to find parts: high voltage transformers and capacitors. There are ocasional updates from Tesla Coil Builders Clubs like the one in Virginia (TCBOR) which is doing some fantastic work on Tesla's "extra" coil/ magnifier system.
Books and Articles generally available:
- BUILD YOUR OWN LASER, PHASER, ION RAY GUN & Other working Space age
Projects by Robert E. Iannini
Sounds goofy, but there a lot of interesting and workable designs here. One chapter on a neon sign transformer based tesla coil. ~250,000volts. Also includes other high voltage projects like a Cockroft-Walton type voltage multipier and high energy capacitor systems for exploding wires and the like.
In case you don't recognize the author, he's the same guy who runs INFORMATION UNLIMITED. They advertise in Radio Electronics/ Electronics Now and have kits for many of the projects given in this book. My latest address for Information Unlimited is: Dept RES14, Box 716, Amherst, NH 03031 Ph#:603-673-4730 FAX:603-672-5406
- GADGETEER's GOLDMINE by Gordon McComb.
Similar to above. Lots of parts sources listed. Also has a chapter on building your own PLASMA GLOBE and one on Van De Graff generators and other high voltage projects. Includes many sources for parts- but the list is somewhat outdated.
- RADIO ELECTRONICS- SEPTEMBER 1991
Issue has a construction project for a soild state tesla coil by Duane A. Bylund. ~ 100,000volt system. This system illustrates the direct drive type of Tesla coil ( like Tesla's extra coil system). He also used to supply kits.
- INTERNET-freebies
Check out anon ftp to ftp.ee.ualberta.ca (circuit cookbook directory) There is a nice small book by Harry Suomalainen called TESLA COIL THEORY AND APPLICATIONS - it's in POSTSCRIPT. It covers standard spark gap driven coils as well as direct drive soild state coil systems.
You will also want to check out the internet (ftp) site at:
>ftp.funet.fi
go to the directory pub/sci/electronics/tesla There is some general literature as well as GIF's of Coils and some programs for computing tesla coil parameters (Have not tried them). This place is rather busy and allow only 80 anon ftps, so I suggest trying at 5:00-7:00pm EDT. This apparently has a few tesla coil desing programs plus (more imporatntly in my opinion) text files of Richard Quick's Experiments and designs. There is also a huge (~1Mb) text file of the last few years of discussion of tesla coil desing and theory from the tesla@grendel list mentioned below. So you didn't have to miss anything good!!! Definitly worth reading but long!
There are at least two discussion groups running for tesla related stuff: >usa-tesla@usa.net (send an email to get on the distribution list)
>tesla@grendel.objinc.com (send email to get on list) Run by Chip Atkinson By far, this list has the most detailed technical discussions I have seen. These people are constantly sharing information on real designs. They have many tips on obtaining parts or fabricating some elements from scratch. It's a vey busy list, so you'd better have plenty of disk space or a good printer! Richard Quick is probably the most experienced builder on the list - He'll send (so far) a 2hr video of his work for $10 and PPD high quality tape. I'm getting one.
On the World Wide Web: