"markvictor" wrote in
oups.com:

What kind of power supply do
you use for a Tesla coil?

My big tesla coil primary power supply was a 30KV 1A Xray transformer
with 230VAC heavy primary. The tank circuit was a home made capacitor
with copper plates separated by 1" thick plexiglass dielectric that
exploded many times so we went to 2" thick glass panes to stop it. The
primary coil was 32 turns of #12 wire suspended on glass posts around the
secondary with over (estimated as we lost count on the lathe) 50,000
turns of very fine enamel covered copper wire around a 4" diameter solid
glass rod, which glowed an eerie, but beautiful blue from the stress,
especially if it wasn't arcing to anything with a solid arc. The top of
the glass rod had a flange glued to it and the top had a copper threaded
rod up about 6" with a 1" brass ball screwed to the top of it. The base
of the glass rod was fit into a PVC drain pipe for support with a heavy
boiler plate base, the ground for the system.

RF was generated with carbon arc lamp rods in home made holders in the
tank circuit, which with 30KV of AC power had no problem arcing over...
(c; Our problem was power input. We only had 50A 230VAC service
available and if you got the rods too close together it would take out
the 50A breaker. The key was to get it pulling around 35-40A, unloaded,
then hold your breath as it flashed over and converted the RF load to
lightning...(c;

Everyone always wore meat cutters' stainless mesh gloves used to cut meat
with a saw to protect your hands from burns because the arc was quite
hot. Even then, you took a pretty good jolt when you became the path.
RF would also burn holes in your feet right through your sneakers, so we
lined the sneakers with tin foil to "distribute the load"...more fun.
You could stand to be the conductor for "most of the arc" for around 5
seconds before the RF heating became uncomfortable in your hand and feet.
Watching so-called safety rubber matting lighting up UNDER YOUR SHOES was
very exciting. Any kind of flourescent lamp within 100' of it would
light brightly, indeed, in your hand. The radiation field was very
intense....tearing up RF communications, I suppose, for miles in all
directions, but not too far as it had no large antenna to speak of.

Set it out in the driveway and let it arc to a lamp post or tree 10' away
will stop traffic on the street...

All in good fun. The "new" wears off after a while and I sold it to
another "coiler" for $300. The Xray transformer was worth that.