making mini Tesla Field generator?

[Ice_Phoenix87]

hey YT2095, how did you make that mini Tesla Field generator? it looks awesome

[YT2095]

out of scrap bits, the base is the case off an old fish tank pump, inside is the circuitry used to charge the strip light in a flat bed scanner, the plasma condiut is the guts out of an old sodium street light and the ball on the top is a hollow metal paper weight, and the mains adaptor was off an old set of x-mas tree lights

[Ice_Phoenix87]

oh ok, lol well i dont have much experience with electronics. Is there anywhere that i can find the exact plan. sorry if i am bothering you.

[YT2095]

well that`s just it, there is no exact plan

I just made it one day out of bordom, I thought it would make a nice and somewhat unusual ornament in the front room, as it gives off a lovely violet light.

I`m not aware of anyone or anywhere that has plans or even owns one similar, it was just something to build out of my (more than huge amounts) junk one boring afternoon, sorry I can`t really be of more help than that, it is just a one off project that I never gave a seconds thought about when making it as to plans.

and no, you`re not bothering me

[Lance]

Just find/build a sufficient high voltage generator and find a neon/xenon/whatever scanner tubes are filled with, and put them together in a nice case. Personally I would rather mess with he arc then look at the light but that’s just me.

[Crash]

Yea neon/xenons pretty cheap these days..........or easy to find

[Lance]

Real neon is not really used much these days except for little tiny ones you somtimes find. I got an 18" xenon from a computer mod store though.

[Ice_Phoenix87]

whats a flat bed scanner? where would i get a the plasma condiut?

[YT2095]

a flat bed scanner is is just a type of data copier for documents, you lift the lid, put your paper in that you want digitised, close it, and run the software, it reads the image on a CCD array and turns it into data.

any evacuated tube with a trace gas present and an appropriate electrode at either end will work, you DO need the sphere at the top though, connected to one of the electrodes to act as an Air capacitor however

[Ice_Phoenix87]

oh ok, how many volts are in this experiment? can i get electrocuted badly?

[YT2095]

not electrocuted, but certainly burned as it`s based on RF energy, the final voltage is about 300 RMS, but extremely low current, it will only burn you it wont shock you badly at all (less than a static electricy spark from a nylon carpet). I can hold the thing in my hand quite safely as long as I grab it quickly and firmly, if you go towards it slowly with a finger tip yout see a tiny blue spark, some smoke and you`ll have a little black pit in your finger tip, quite painless unless you keep it there for a few seconds

[Lance]

Oh but the stench! Thats the most painful part.

[YT2095]

yeah, it can be a little unpleasant, especialy when you try and draw little pictures on yourself with it

 

on a Brighter note (pun intended here) you can light up a dozen+ flourescent tubes with it all at the same time, the odd part that the current consumption makes no significant increase after the 1`st tube? they don`t get dimmer as you more ether after the 1`st 2, it`s ceratinly something I find hard to explain!