I always wanted to have a Tesla coil, probably has to do with growing up in the 1960s and liked watching sci-fi movies, so when I saw this kit on Heretoserveyou, I had to buy it.
I read a few reviews before buying it and being a fairly experienced kit builder I was confident I could build it successfully. I did use a few tips that were mentioned in the reviews.
The first thing you have to do is scan the QR code and download the instruction manual. I found it to be very complete, first numbered instructions and then instructions with step by step pictures to identify the components and show the proper orientation. My kit contained everything except the 30 cm of ground wire, and hot glue. You can use any wire, single conductor small gauge, can even use some speaker wire if you have any laying around. My transformer was exactly as pictured in the instructions. The 100uh choke was already prepared with the leads stripped and tinned.
I followed the instructions exactly as written, except for a few steps.
As mentioned in other reviews, I hot glued all the capacitors together in the configuration shown in the instructions before soldering them and adding the resistors. I used crazy glue and screws to assemble the wooden frame and dowels, instead of hot glue. To strip the enamel insulation off the wires I used a razor blade to scrape off the enamel and then used 150 sandpaper to do a final cleaning. Its very important to get it all off for a good solder joint.
The place I deviated most from the instructions was for the primary and secondary coils. When I saw how thin the secondary transformer wire was (30 ga) I followed a tip from a review. I very gently scrapped off the insulation and used sandpaper to clean the secondary wire. I used a 4-40 screw, nut and 2 washers to secure the thin wire instead of soldering the 30 cm ground wire to it. I first hot glued the secondary coil centered on the top piece of wood. I drilled a 1/8 hole where the secondary wire came out from under the coil. I then put the secondary wire under the washer and on the under side of the board I attached the 30 cm ground wire under the washer, then tightened up the nut, this removes all stress off the 30 ga secondary wire.
Then I hot glued the Primary transformer core to the board, centered over the secondary coil. I drilled a 1.5mm hole for one side of the primary winding from the spark gap to go through the board, wrapped the one turn around the form, hot glued in place, then drilled another 1.5mm hole for wire to go back to the capacitors.
I used an old Dell laptop power supply, 19.5 volts, 6.7 amps. I first adjusted the spark gap to around 2mm and attached the ground wire to a 7 carpenters speed square that was laying on the work bench. I plugged the power supply and it worked! A very bright, loud spark was generated at the spark gap. I was able to light a fluorescent bulb from about 1 foot away and create about a 2-3 spark.
I am pleased with this Tesla coil kit and had a good time building it.
