Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnewsd!knudsen
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (michael.j.knudsen)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Anyone know about arc generators? `ffzzapp'
Summary: Ignition xformer, not Tesla
Message-ID: <13028@cbnewsd.ATT.COM>
Date: 2 Feb 90 21:30:28 GMT
References: <5237@vax1.tcd.ie> <2813@goanna.oz.au>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 23

To build a Jacob's Ladder, you don't need to build anything
as complex as a Tesla coil.  For a JL, just get an old ignition
transformer from a junked oil furnace.  Biggest problem is
getting the two wire electrodes shaped just right.

Safety is a big concern here.  Teslas put out RF at low microamperage
and can maybe burn you but not shock you.
Furnace igniters are just the reverse -- good old 60 cycles
at quite a few milliamps.  So do be careful.

Also put some kind of plexiglas or glass chimney or box around
the beast while it's on public display, so nobody can touch
it while operating.
Although it is fun to blow out the spark halfway up and
watch it restart from the bottom, or to hold a slip
of paper  halfway up and watch holes burn thru it, etc.

Neon sign transformers are even better, if you can scrounge one.
More voltage, less current.
-- 
Mike Knudsen  knudsen@ihlpl.att.com   (708)-713-5134
"Round and round the while() loop goes;
        Whether it stops," Turing says, "no one knows."