SGTC

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 pore construction overall. Despite these flaws the coil still managed to create some 1/2 inch acrs to air and light many florescent 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 florescent lap is also being lit about 6 inches away wireless. As seen in the photo is is almost as bright as it would be being powered from a regular 120VAC outlet.

The PVC spark gap is also viable behind the coil and CFC.

Some more Photos of the coil running.