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Step 8: Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Step 9: Sparks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Step 10: Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
4/16/10: The MOT (plate transformer) burnt out because the secondary windings were damaged by previous experiments (SGTC,s, Jacob's Ladders, etc.). It was replaced with a larger one and the sparks are now almost 7" long - this coil performs as well as Steve's did, but with only one tube and with a poorly tuned primary oscillator! Thanks!
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Image Notes 1. 5" long sparks using only one 811A tube, and the coil is about 100kHz out of tune! Results when coil is properly tuned (when I buy a new capacitor) should be amazing.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Image Notes 1. This is the filament 2. This is the plate 3. This picture was created by me using "Paint", it was not take off of the internet.
Image Notes 1. This picture was created by me using "Paint", it was not take off of the internet.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Image Notes 1. This picture was created by me using "Paint", it was not take off of the internet.
Image Notes 1. This picture was created by me using "Paint", it was not take off of the internet.
Image Notes 1. This picture was created by me using "Paint", it was not take off of the internet.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Step 5: Parts!
Here are the parts that I used, and the approximately how much each one cost: ~$30 (2) 811A Vacuum Tube Triodes ~$0 (1) Microwave Oven Transformer ~$10 (1) 30kV 1.0nF Polystyrene Capacitor (2 or 3nF will also work here, I found that larger capacitance increased the performance slightly) ~$15 (1) Bundle of 1000 ft. of 28 AWG Magnet Wire ~$10 (1) Bundle of 100ft. of 16 AWG Insulated Audio Wire (Can be purchased from Radio Shack) ~$3 (2) Small Circuit Boards ~$10 (1) 1' x 1' x 1" Wooden Board (This price is for about 10 of these boards) ~$5 (1) Box of Nails ~$0 (2) Ferrite Toroid Cores (Should be at least about 1/2" in inner diameter, these are not critical parts) ~$2 (4) 3kV 1.8nF Ceramic Disk Capacitors ~$10 (1) 50W 5k? Resistor (? = Ohm Symbol) ~$7 (2) 20W 30? Resistors ~$0 (1) 6.3 VAC 10A Filament Transformer (You can use 5 volts from a modified computer power supply instead if you want to save some money, but the performance will decrease)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
~$5 (1) Small Container of Epoxy Glue (This is for gluing the secondary coil down, if you want to experiment (like me) then you shouldn't glue the coil down) ~$5 (1) 1' of 4" Diameter PVC Pipe (Primary Former) ~$3 (1) 1' of 2" Diameter PVC Pipe (Secondary Former) Total: ~$100 This is actually a very crude estimate, and shipping costs will differ depending upon where you buy from and where you live. The parts marked $0 were either salvaged (like the Microwave Oven Transformer) or they were free samples (like the Ferrite Toroid Cores) or were already owned (I used a computer power supply instead of a costly filament transformer).
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Image Notes 1. Secondary Coil 2. Microwave Oven Transformer 3. Alligator Clips for the Primary Taps 4. Tank Capacitors 5. Feedback Coil 6. Primary Coil 7. Vacuum Tube Protection Circuitry (Resistor and Inductor Circuits) 8. Vacuum Tubes 9. Filament Power From the Computer Power Supply 10. Mains Power for the Microwave Oven Transformer 11. RF Filter - Found Inside of an Old Microwave 12. 5k 50W Resistor 13. Connections to Feedback Coil 14. All Ground Point Lead Here (To the Microwave Oven Transformer's Case) 15. 1.8nF 6kV (Equivalent) Capacitors Connected Across the Resistor 16. Helping Hands Holding Up a Grounded Discharge Rod 17. This Wire Leads to the Bottom of the Secondary Coil - it is Connected to the Microwave Oven Transformer's Case (Ground)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
hands or worn gloves. 3) Work slowly and deliberately - its not a race, you will make fewer mistakes if you are willing to commit a few hours to winding the coil. Sometimes, if you make a mistake earlier on, you might want to unwind and then rewind the coil entirely. For this particular coil, I wound the secondary half way through before I noticed some crossed windings and rewound the whole thing. 4) Use shellac (I used the spray-on type) or polyurethane to cover your secondary coil - this will help to prevent the coil from unwinding and will hold everything together well, it also looks and feels very nice. Give it a good day to dry off after the shellac (even if the can only says 15 minutes) as the secondary coil might erupt in flames if the coating has not dried thoroughly.
Step 8: Testing
When you're finally ready to turn your coil on, be sure that you have a large open area to work in where there is no danger of sparks from the coil setting anything on fire. I would recommend testing the coil at a lower voltage first (using a Variac - I would start by testing it around 30VAC input first and then working up to full power) instead of plugging it in to see what happens. Also, a 10 ampere FAST safety fuse is REQUIRED in series with the mains electricity you are using in order to prevent electrical fires and other nasty scenarios in the event that your coil does not work properly. Before you plug anything in, however, you should use a multimeter to make sure that your connections are all correct and that your vacuum tubes are not damaged (ie. burnt our filament, shorted grid and filament, etc. - all of these have happened to me when working with vacuum tubes) On the first attempt, do not expect to immediately be rewarded with roaring sparks - be glad if your coil works at all. Once you have established that it does, then attach a small topload to the top of the secondary coil (I like to use a filment lightbulb wrapped tightly in aluminum foil) and use the taps on the primary coil to tune your coil for maximal spark length. Note: you will need some sort of breakout point like a sharp nail if you use a topload of any sort). Here are some pictures of my Tesla Coil's first light:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Step 9: Sparks!
If you're satisfied with the way your tests are looking, then you can plug everything in and enjoy the plasma! Interesting experiments you can try include observing discharges inside of an argon filled lightbulb, inside of a vacuum tube (be careful some tubes might produce small amounts of X-Ray radiation if you do this by way of Bremsstrahlung), and you can light up fluorescent tubes at a distance. Also, if you remove the breakout point and tune a nearby radio (and sometimes a faraway radio too) to the resonant frequency of your coil (Usually somewhere on the AM band) you will be able to hear the 60Hz buzz of the coil.
Image Notes 1. 7" to 8" Sparks Image Notes 1. 5" long sparks using only one 811A tube, and the coil is about 100kHz out of tune! Results when coil is properly tuned (when I buy a new capacitor) should be amazing.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Image Notes 1. 811A in Class A2 2. 5AQ5 (Equivalent to 6V6GT) driving the 811A in Class A2. 3. 12AX7 Preamplifier - Made from a dead Heathkit HD-11 Q-Multiplier. 4. A 12V power transformer being used as an audio output transformer, will be upgraded soon!
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
5. Filament Transformer (Same as the one used in the VTTC). 6. Power Transformer - A lucky find from an HP Nixie Tube Voltage Meter.
Related Instructables
Step By Step Plans to Building a 250,000 Volt Tesla Coil. (REVISED VERSION) by Tesla Coiler
Step By Step Plans To Building A 250,000 Volt Tesla Coil by Tesla Coiler
Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 124 comments
Xellers says:
Thanks! :)
ZachFejes says:
Jul 19, 2011. 12:19 PM REPLY True, it won't burn you, but you still shouldn't touch it. You may not feel it, but it is can burn out (permanently) your nerves, which you do NOT want.
gigavolt says:
Apr 14, 2011. 5:32 PM REPLY I just got my coil working, and I'm wondering if I would be able to add a voltage doubler circuit to the plate voltage. It's a 2k mot, and 2 811a's. Do you think the tubes would arc over or would they survive???
Xellers says:
Jun 23, 2011. 3:44 PM REPLY I tried adding a voltage doubler to this coil, but my tube started arcing after a short period of time, so I took it out. I was using a staccato circuit, so if you try this, I would recommend the same. My tube is the cheapest Chinese variant available, so if you're using NOS American-made 811As, you might encounter more success than I did. You don't need a particularly complex staccato circuit to pull this off - just get an SCR rated for several amps at several hundred volts (dirt cheap on eBay), put it in between the filaments and ground, and add a simple 555 timer circuit - I used my 555 timer-based DRSSTC interrupter and it worked fine. Good luck!
gigavolt says:
Thanks for the advice! Looking for an SCR now!!!
Xellers says:
Just in case you were wondering, the SCR I used was a BTA16-600B (600V, 16A) http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/SGSThomsonMicroelectronics/mXywxqt.pdf Note: 16A at 600V is extreme overkill for this application, so don't worry about using a weaker SCR.
gigavolt says:
Ok, thanks!
gigavolt says:
Stupid 12ax7a's!!! They cut out for the most part at 50khz!!! I need 1.5 Mhz for my super-mini-plasma globe-ish vttc!!!
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Xellers says:
Apr 4, 2011. 8:01 PM REPLY 12AX7s are designed as low power preamplifier tubes - they only have 1 watt of plate dissipation, so I don't think they'd stand up to much VTTC use. A better tube for your purposes would probably be the Russian-made GU50. It can run right off of a MOT and I've seen some people get pretty impressive results for a tube of its size: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpSBRJETQDg http://teslacoil.ru/devices/fakelnik-na-gu-50/ (check out the other VTTCs on this website too)
gigavolt says:
Apr 5, 2011. 5:29 PM REPLY I know its not meant for vttc use...I was bored last night and i had a few 12ax7a's laying around, so i got out the signal gen, scope, and powersupply. It's looking horrible for 12ax7as but i dont really care :D
electricfan says:
Apr 20, 2010. 5:07 PM REPLY in the plan are all grounds commen ? all the tubes and transformers are grounded so doesn't that te primary and seccondary share ground correct me if im wrong. thanks paul
gigavolt says:
They would share the same ground. For (small)Solid State coils and most Vacuum Tube coils, this is quite common.
gigavolt says:
Apr 4, 2011. 12:34 PM REPLY If you vary from the design, you may want to run some calculations(if you are up for it)!!! It will seriously help, trust me!!! If you change the top load size, or the secondary size, or the capcitor value, etc. It will throw the tuning off. I found that if you calculate the resonance of the secondary coil, then tune the primary coil and feedback coil accordingly. This is just a suggestion for the more advanced coilers, for beginners, you will want to just stick to the design as the calculations can get pretty crazy really fast!!!
jp333 says:
i have built a vttc i have found the plans on your web site and nothing is happening wen i test it there was a loud hum sound and that was it . the tubes are not heating up and the grid circuit does not seem to be working but the continuity is ok. also continuity is ok thou the rest of the Tesla coil please help specs 1 k mot 1.85uf microwave oven cap two 811a's veritable resistor in gird with 0.0022uf cap
jp333 says:
Mar 14, 2011. 9:48 PM REPLY hello i am still having problems with my coil. i have done some readjusting to my coil and also remove 1.85uf microwave oven cap as the tank cap and replace it with an a new one but still no success . it seems like to me feedback coil isn't picking any thing up at all and i don't know y . i hope these photos can help.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Xellers says:
Mar 14, 2011. 10:15 PM REPLY What are the dimensions of your feedback coil? From what I see, it looks like only 1 turn of wire! One things you should consider is that the LC circuit formed by L1 and C1 is a tuned circuit that should resonate with the secondary coil and topload! You MUST make sure these are tuned properly, or else you will get little or no output - I would suggest making a completely new primary circuit (new primary coil and new capacitor) with the specifications I give in the instructable, that way, you know that everything is already approximately tuned. You CANNOT use a microwave oven capacitor in your primary circuit because the voltage rating is a bit low and its capacitance is way too high!
Xellers says:
Mar 11, 2011. 5:49 PM REPLY Hello, I'm quite glad that someone actually went and tried this instructable out! As for your coil not oscillating, one possible culprit is the feedback coil. In any circuit involving an Armstrong oscillator, I always try reversing the feedback coil connections if it doesn't start up. As for the parts you listed, what what do you mean when you say a "1 k mot"? What parameter is " 1 k" describing? Also, where did you use the microwave oven capacitor? There is no place in this circuit for one and if you inserted it somewhere, it might be causing problems. What sort of grid resistor are you using? If it's not a high enough wattage resistor, it will quickly die and if it's too big or too small, the coil might not oscillate properly. When you say that the tubes are not heating up, do you mean that the filaments are not lighting? If so, there's something wrong with the filament transformer circuit (for example, if you inserted the microwave capacitor across the tubes' filaments, then that would cause the filament power supply to short circuit). Finally, what do you mean when you say the "continuity is ok"? What exactly were you testing? The easiest way for me to try to diagnose the problem is to look at what you built. If possible, can you upload and post some pictures of your coil from different angles so that I can see what you did (if you do, please make sure the photographs are detailed enough for me to see what's going on)? Also, if you have access to a video camera, can you post a video of yourself quickly demonstrating what happens when you turn the coil on? Good luck! Xellers
jp333 says:
(removed by author or community request)
Xellers says:
Mar 5, 2011. 12:07 PM REPLY Unfortunately, as much as I would like to help, I'm afraid I can't do that because I don't understand what your comment means. If you want to audiomodulate your VTTC, the easiest way to do this would probably be to add a full wave rectifier and filter capacitor to your power supply and then to use a TL494 PWM interrupter to switch an SCR or MOSFET that control whether the filament of your tube is grounded or not. Basically, the idea is to build a staccato-like circuit onto a CW VTTC, but to interrupt the semiconductor via a PWM audio signal instead of a 555 timer.
gigavolt says:
Aug 29, 2010. 11:44 AM REPLY I got my tubes from ebay, they were $40 for a matched pair from K5SVC. K5SVC is a great seller of all sorts of high quality tubes.
savka says:
You could find old tv. It is a real treasurechest for vacuum tubes. You can also find HV capacitors in there.
savka says:
do you have any recicling centre nearby?
Xellers says:
Feb 1, 2011. 2:25 PM REPLY Somehow, I doubt that an old TV would contain many useful parts - in a VTTC, one usually pushes all the parts (especially the tube) as far as they go, and this could easily lead to catastrophic failure with an old tube or with other old parts. Given that you can buy a small VTTC-worthy tube like a GU50 for several dollars on ebay, and given that it's probably better than anything you could find in an old TV, I think it's worth the investment. If you're not looking for maximum efficiency and just want to build a small coil that works, I'm sure you could find the rest of the parts you need for very little money.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
304TL says:
Jan 12, 2011. 5:24 AM REPLY I would kindly submit that the reason you burned out the first MOT is that the design you copied is fundamentally flawed. Using a larger transformer may make it last a bit longer, but the key problems from the original schematic still persist. Identifying what the problems are, is left as an exercise for the interested reader wishing to copy the design. Never mind that this contraption will instantly kill you, if you have a spark flowing to your hand (as shown in one of the photos) and you then accidentally get the other hand near the oscillator coil or the top of the tubes. But the colors in the photos are pretty (being positive here.)
Xellers says:
Jan 12, 2011. 10:23 AM REPLY OK, I certainly agree with the second part of your comment, but I think you're quite dead if your hands wander in that direction at any point during the "contraption's" operation. As for the first part, can you elaborate? From what I can tell, this "fundamentally flawed" design is what almost any Armstrong Oscillator-based VTTC would use - what's missing? I'm not trying to be defensive here, I just want to improve the design because I think you're right I've already killed another MOT with this thing and I want it to stop!
asustec001 says:
thank very good
-max- says:
that looks SUPER dangerous to touch!!! did it burn you?
electricfan says:
The answer is= IT WILL NOT BURN YOU!!!!!!! iF YOUR CAREFUL!!!
-max- says:
Jun 29, 2010. 5:07 PM REPLY can you tell me the values of all the parts? I'm planing to make an table top version of this... also, i will tweak it so that is an AM transmitter!
Xellers says:
Jul 2, 2010. 7:17 PM REPLY The values of the parts are all specified within the instructions, and you can visit Steve's site (there's a link) if you need some more information. Also, this *is* a tabletop coil! Regarding the AM transmitter, this is probably not the best way to go about building one, the 811A is better suited for building a linear amplifier or a modulator than it is for making an oscillator. I would use something like a 6146A (or B) tube as an oscillator and a pair of 811A tubes in a 500W RF amplifier for an AM transmitter. If you do build a transmitter, then please post some pictures and tell us how you did it!
-max- says:
also, if you want to answer my question, how to build a table top VTTC (vacuum tube tesla coil your more than welcome!
-max- says:
Jul 3, 2010. 9:13 AM REPLY it will be a while before i build it as a gather info on it, but i think this schematic is useful... i took your schematic, (the second pic) and took out all the static, moved some components around, and then added a audio transformer and ac-to-dc converter. the third schematic is similar to the first schematic without modification.
savka says:
Feb 23, 2011. 3:33 AM REPLY I have 2 nice new EI-ni PL-519 tubes. It is a penthode rated at 7Kv. I also have new mot. I don't want to use schematic with transformer T3 for audio-modulation, but because I have a penthode I would apply audio-input to some of the grids. What grid should I use? Should I apply audioinput to both tubes, or just one?
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Xellers says:
Jul 3, 2010. 4:19 PM REPLY You can follow the link in step 4 to the complete schematic. The parts are listed in the schematic, as well as in step 5. A cost estimate is also given in step 5. In order to modulate the coil, you need steady DC power supply; in this particular schematic, the oscillator is only active during the positive half cycles of the current provided by the MOT. This means that you are already modulating a 60Hz signal into the coil, and this is reflected by the loud buzzing noise it makes when it is turned on. To modulate audio, you would need a full wave rectifier and a filter capacitor in the power supply (I can already see a half wave rectifier in your second schematic, but this will still cause some hum, use a full wave rectifier). However, if you continued to use the MOT in this configuration, it would destroy the tube almost immediately - you would need to significantly reduce the power supply voltage, which would in turn reduce the spark size. Also, this would add about $50 to the cost of the project because MOTs are relatively easy to come by and you can find one for next to nothing (if you can't find one for free inside of a broken microwave oven), while other high voltage plate transformers are rare nowadays and would probably have to come out of vintage radio gear. (I have also posted this comment an answer to your question)
-max- says:
Jul 5, 2010. 3:33 PM REPLY i'm now using this schematic but i don't know if it will work. i have many new questions on my question "how to build a table top VTTC (vacuum tube tesla coil)" will this schematic work?
-max- says:
Jul 4, 2010. 7:39 PM REPLY can you give me some info on the tubes why they will break? and do i have to use a MOT, cant i use another transformer like a BIG wall-wart (wall adapter) or a bunch of batteries?
Xellers says:
Jul 4, 2010. 9:30 PM REPLY 1) Vacuum tubes will arc over, resulting in catastrophic failure and destruction. 2) I'm sorry, but if you do not know why you need to be using a microwave oven transformer, then you probably shouldn't be using one in the first place. I do not want to give you information that could be potentially harmful; the "hobbyist approach" (learning by doing, rather than by understanding) works well in some cases, but I do not believe that it is wise to be building Tesla Coils without some proper foundations in electrical engineering. Find a book or website that explains vacuum tube operation, and then read the article on Steve Ward's site about designing VTTCs.
-max- says:
i just want a safer transformer. don't vacuum tubes work at low voltages? not a lethal 2.5KV @ 100ma+ ?
Xellers says:
Jul 6, 2010. 8:30 AM REPLY You are correct, many vacuum tubes work with relatively low voltages on their plates. In fact, some types of later "space charge" tubes (like the 12DZ6, for example) were even designed to work with only 12 volts on their plates. Some smaller space charge tubes have been run with only 3 - 6 volts on their plates! However, these types of tubes are usually not capable of any significant power output (most of them can't handle more than a watt or so of output power in class A), usually they were designed for use as RF amplifiers in the first stages of a radio circuit. Some other types of "subminiature" tubes and small 7 pin tubes can work with relatively low voltages of several dozen volts on their plates, but these too suffer from weak power handling abilities. The smallest type of tube that can be used in a VTTC is a strong RF amplifier from a radio receiver, or a weak RF oscillator (or amplifier) from a radio transmitter (when I talk about "strong" and "weak" here, I am talking about how the particular tube compares in terms of plate dissipation power with other similar tubes). The smallest VTTCs can run with only about 200 or so volts on the plates of their tubes, but they only produce sparks a few millimeters long. I'm sure you've already seen this, but this is more or less what you should expect if you plan on building a small VTTC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJ2U0IHJ00. Another popular tubes for small VTTCs is the PL504. However, the voltages on the plates of even the smallest VTTCs are still lethal. The minimum voltage required to operate a tube like the 811A is only a few hundred volts, but don't even expect it to be able to oscillate.
-max- says:
will a NST work for it?
Xellers says:
This question has already been answered, and the answer is no, unfortunately, it will not.
Plasmana says:
Jun 1, 2010. 4:02 PM REPLY I thought people are making VTTC with tubes they have kept from the past and didn't really bother reading about them until now... I am really surprised that manufactures still makes vacuum tubes now days! Now I am interested in making a VTTC as it seems simpler than making a SSTC, :) One question, I read somewhere that 811A tubes can overheat quite quickly when used in VTTC, just how do I tell if they are overheated? I really don't want to melt my brand new pair of 811A's...
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/
Xellers says:
Jun 1, 2010. 4:23 PM REPLY Nowadays, most tubes are manufactured for HiFi audio or for radio transmitters, the 811A falls under the second category, although there are a few good HiFi amps out there that use 811As. One thing you should watch out for are people selling 811As as HiFi tubes, they'll cost you twice as much! In most cases, VTTCs push tubes far outside their safe operating zones, and can only be operated for short periods of time. Right now, my primary RLC is out of tune with my secondary, so this adds to the overheating effect. Determining whether a tube is dying really depends upon which model you are using. Some types of tubes are designed to run with their plates red, others are not. In most cases, you can run your VTTC until the plate becomes orange or yellow, at which point you must immediately turn the coil off to prevent arcing and tube destruction. Also, always use the exact (or slightly under the exact) filament voltage specified, too low and the coil will hardly work (this coil now makes 6" long sparks with the filaments at 6.3 volts and 1.5" long sparks with the filaments at 5 volts). I know it will be tempting, but never run the voltage any higher, that's why I only have one tube now when I started out with two - most filaments can handle many volts more than they are rated for, but the rest of the tube will melt (in my case, the grid melted and is now electrically connected to the filament). Btw, I was trying to use the same CD4046 driver schematic as is contained that PLL SSTC you linked me too, I got everything right, I think, but that CD4046 just wouldn't oscillate.... Good luck!
Plasmana says:
Wow, thanks for this information, I just only started learning about tubes. Also, does the grid glow as well? I will start off my VTTC at 5v just to test to see if everything works then Ill use 6.3v for the filaments.
electricfan says:
Jun 4, 2010. 2:03 PM REPLY DON'T DO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WILL RUIN THE THORIDE ON THE FILLAMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS BETTER YO RUN THE TUBE SLIGHTLY OVER THE VOLTAGE THAN UNDER IT. i KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, I HAVE TALKED TO 10S OF 4HV MENBERS, ANTUQUE RADIOS MEMBERS. SO NEVER USE 5 VOLTS FOR A 6.3 VOLT FILLAMENT thanks, Paul
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Build-A-Vacuum-Tube-Tesla-Coil-VTTC/