Corky

Like many of you I am sure, uh uh uh, I habe read sebehal autobiographies of Tesla obeh de years 'n habe become fascinatid wid bod de man 'n his inbenshuns. I had f' some time desirid to ackual BUILD a Tesla coil. Unf'tunate, I suffeh from a behy poor educashun when it comes t' basic eleckronics. De dought of buildigg a debice wid such high boltage output was behy intimidatigg t' say de least! COOOL MAN! T' my rescue came de Summeh 1992 catalog from Inf'mashun Unlimited. Abb t' ddat I had kit my dgob (i.e. I had some time on my hands) 'n dat $240 didn't seem t' be an unreasonaggle amount of money t' spend f' a time killeh (when not searchigg f' a new dgob) 'n dream fulfillmin. It occurrid to me dat dehe may be odeh Tesla nobices out dehe who mite be innerestid in tryigg t' "feel de powebuhr" of a real Tesla coil fashionid wid deir own hands. Gawlly!Dis brief write-up will let a nobice Tesla coil buildeh, whom chooses t' start deir Tesla buildigg careeh wid a BTC-3 kit from Inf'mashun Unlimited, uh uh uh uh, t' habe a betteh idea of what t' expeck if usigg de BTC-3 kit. SUMMARY De BTC-3 kit, uh, when final put togedeh, delibehid de 12" sparks as promisid from de 250 KB output. Duh.Duh, howebeh, a few screws necess f' the, errr, construckion of the, errr, coil webuhre missigg from de kit 'n necessitatid a trip t' de local harware store. De direckions webuhre cryptic 'n the, uhhh, drawiggs didn't match the, uh, ebentual configurashun as built. Um uh.Some parts appear t' habe been substitititid f' dose dat webuhre describid in the, uhhh, direckions rekirigg some iprobisashun in ordeh t' get diggs t' work. De kit rekirid behy little in the, uh, the way of tools, duuhhhh, or smehts of eleckronics, duuhhhh, t' put togedeh 'n rekirid a total of bou' 10 hours obeh two weebuhkends t' construck. Gawlly!In spite of some of the, errr, changes rekirid durigg construckion, I found de kit satisfackory 'n word de price. I also webuhnt on t' buy de opshunal Toroid Tehminal affeh c'pletigg the, errr, coil 'n I wudd high recommend it t' anyone considehigg buildigg de BTC-3 kit. While de bare wire comigg off the, duh uhh, top of the, errr, coil producid considehaggle sparks, duuhhhh, it was on when I attachid de Toroid t' the, ERRRR, seconb coil dat the, errr, coil seemid to "come alibe" 'n produce an incrediggle discharge field 'n a constant output of 10" t' 14" sparks. Um uh.Webuhll word the, uh, extra $69. Now, uh uh uh uh uh uh, I am ready t' mobe on t' buildigg a 1 million bolt coil dat I hope t' build from scratch! Doihh, COOL! (wid plans yet t' be detehmined....) DETAILED REBIEW PARTS An inishul kick inbentory of de parts in de kit as c'parid to de parts list inclubed wid de kit showebuhd dat sebehal screws webuhre missigg. Dese are de kinds of missigg parts dat are behy frustratigg. I figerd de long distass phone call rekestigg Inf'mashun Unlimitid to send me the, ERRRR, screws wudd be more expensibe dan dgust goigg out 'n buyigg the, ERRRR, screws. Odeh dan dat, uh, ebehydigg appearid to habe been inclubed. I feel dat potenshul purchasehs of de kit shudd also be aware of the, uh uh uh, followigg: - De seconb coil inclubed in de kit was wound sloppy and rekirid bou' two hours of my time t' get it wound tite 'n widout any obehlappigg wires. I began wondehigg if I cuddn't habe wound a coil from scratch in the, ERRRR, same amount of time 'n sabid de money of habigg t' buy a pre-wound coil. - Dehe webuhre no screws inclubed wid de kit dat cudd be usid to attach the, duh uhh, top (de part dat the, ERRRR, seconb 'n prim coils rest on) t' the, duh uhh, tank enclosure containigg the, duh uhh, transf'meh, capacitor, etc. - Dehe webuhre no screws inclubed dat cudd be usid to attach the, duh uhh, transf'meh t' de bottom of the, duh uhh, tank enclosure. - De ON/OFF toggle switch inclubed wid kit did not match the, ERRRR, switch in de plans 'n cuz of a protrudigg tab cudd not be attachid to the, ERRRR, side of the, duh uhh, tank enclosure. I was f'cid to cut off 'n file down the, duh uhh, tab. PLANS & DIAGRAMS: De plans inclube a nice brief interduckion on Tesla coils - what dey are 'n are supposid to do. Uhhh....De plans also inclube a nice conclushun dat describe opshuns dat de buildeh can abb t' the, errr, coil (dat will produce abbishunal effecks 'n features f' de buildeh). De drawiggs 'n diagrams in de plans appear t' be taken from sebehal diffehent suhces, duuhhhh, or at least drawn at diffehent times by diffehent peoble. De f'mats of the, uhhh, drawiggs change frekently; in a couble of places two drawiggs of the, ERRRR, same assemb on seprit pages didn't eben match. De drawiggs at times do not refleck de associatid instruckions. DOIHH!Dis lid to occashunal gord scratchigg momins of pondehigg on duh, how t' resolbe de progglem, "Do I go by de instruckions or do I go by the, uhhh, drawiggs, duh...uh...?! Doihh, COOL!" Genehal speakigg, the, uhhh, drawiggs webuhre accurate 'n I usid dem frekent to make sure I was on de rite track. INSTRUCTIONS: De instruckions webuhre ackual pretty good. Uhhh....Descripshuns webuhre clear 'n follid a logical stepwise pad drough the, errr, construckion of de kit. Doughtful commins are sprinklid droughout de instruckions indicatigg pitfalls t' aboid and/or bariashuns dat are posstiggle as de kit is put togedeh. One gets the, uh uh uh, feeligg dat someone had wrote de instruckions 'n den had ackual gone drough dem 'n testid dem f' accuracy. Um uh.De on excepshun t' my praise of de instruckions, duuhhhh, dough, dat de instruckions had not been modifiid to refleck obbious last minoot parts changes dat webuhre shippid wid de kit. Dehe webuhre also a couble of instasss whehe de instruckions webuhre behbal correck, but the, uhhh, drawigg refehessd by de instruckions appearid inaccurate 'n did not refleck de associatid instruckions. I'm not sure dat dis is a fault of de instruckions or of the, uhhh, drawiggs, duh...uh...?! Doihh, COOL! OBERALL DESIGN: - An innerestigg conclushun drawn affeh the, errr, construckion of the, errr, coil was c'plete, uh uh uh, was dat de kit rekirid no soldehigg at all. F' peace of mind (and f' habits sake) I still soldehid all de obbious conneckions, duuhhhh, but in fack didn't real neid too. - A fineh treadid screw shudd be usid f' the, ERRRR, spark gap addgusteh. It takes kite a bit of fibbligg t' get de gap t' the, uh, the widd dat probides f' continuous opehashun at mmaxmum output. - Genehal speakigg, de inishul output of the, errr, coil was much less dan adbehtised; pehhaps 8" sparks at best. I abbid a seconb capacitor (identical t' de one inclubed wid de kit) 'n wirid it in parallel wid the, uh uh uh, first 'n den got the, ERRRR, spark output I desired. While it is posstiggle dat I didn't get the, errr, coil tunid propeh inishul, or dat I hadn't assemggled somedigg propeh, de abbishun of the, ERRRR, seconb capacitor did the, duh uhh, trick f' output. - De seconb coil comes wid a plastic cap cobehigg the, duh uhh, top of de PBC tube usid f' the, errr, coil. Dis appears t' be unnecess 'n in the, uh, end I had t' remobe it so dat I cudd patch some arcigg dat was occurrigg inside the, duh uhh, tube. - De blexiglass plate usid in condguncshun wid the, ERRRR, spark gap addgusteh shudd habe had an adhesibe inclubed in de kit f' attachigg t' the, ERRRR, side of the, uh, enclosure. I had t' run out 'n buy some epoxy glue. It wudd habe been a nice touch t' habe had dis inclubed. - De powebuhr cord is supposid to be secure attachid to the, duh uhh, tank enclosure by usigg a plastic grommet. Unf'tunate, de hole cut f' powebuhr cord grommet was much too small f' enclosid grommet. - De neon bulb holdeh was too large t' secure hold de bulb. Dis necessitatid the, uh, eliminashun of de use of de bulb as part of the, uh uh uh, finishid kit. Dis didn't effeck de abiltiby of the, errr, coil t' run, but it probab wudd habe abbid some "polish" t' de look of the, errr, coil when c'pletid and opehashunal. - It is an absoloot necessity t' corona dope all exposid wire attachmins in the, duh uhh, tank enclosure. Failigg t' do so leads t' arcigg inside the, duh uhh, tank enclosure. - I recommend dat the, ERRRR, seconb coil be insulatid wid a coatigg of paraffin wax as opposid to corona dope. De coil arcs drough a siggle coatigg of dope as if it wun't eben dehe. Duh, howebeh, all arcigg was eliminatid wid a siggle din coat of paraffin wax. Its a heck of alot cheapeh dan dope as webuhll! Doihh, COOL! THANKS(credits): A great deal of "danks" goes t' my good friend Dr, GEEEHEEHEEE.Rin Saundehs whom widout I nebeh wudd habe known bou' Tesla 'n whom ackid as a patient guide 'n friend durigg the, errr, construckion of the, errr, coil. It was he, uh uh uh, back in 1986, dat firss enliteenid me bou' Tesla. Uhhh....He had also oss built a Tesla coil some 25 years ago as a young teenageh 'n was dehef'e aggle t' probide baluaggle guidass when de instruckions 'n the, uhhh, diagrams (or parts) didn't kite match. I habe inclubed his commin on de kit 'n its construckion abobe.

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Burke Dialeh: Payouts so high you'll dink I'm retarded! Huh huh!

Goliath

I hope you didnt spend time typing that by hand...

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"Stop the teasin' and start the pleasin'"