The Turn Of The Century Electrotherapy Museum
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com
(C) Jeff Behary 2007

Winding A Flat Spiral Pancake Tesla Coil
From "finish to start" - a reverse time line...



Testing the coil after wax/oil hardened

The wax was beginning to set...

After pouring the hot oil/wax, a small amount of current energized the coil to produce
an electrostatic "agitation" of the mix to help remove air bubbles...



The hot mixture was poured into the mold... 


Wax and oil were melted on an induction stove at about 180 degrees.

Primary Coil was added to the mold.

Secondary Coil was added to the mold.

Finished secondary was wrapped with electrical tape to avoid unwinding...

A view from the interleave material spool...

Top view of complete coil.

Side view of complete coil.



Coil is approaching completion - run out of oiled paper.

Coil is "getting there"...about half way done.

This is more practical...

Wire can zigzag slightly to allow for more windings than if a true "flat spiral"
This is a bit exaggerated for illustration purposes...

Here are the first few turns of wire.



Note that the long bolt serves as a handle to wind the coil.  Tension may be
placed on the spool of wire to create tension on the final coil.  The interleave paper
is tensioned automatically by the magnet wire tension.

The magnet wire is held in place by a piece of 1/4" teflon rod drilled to 1/16".
It is placed in a 1/4" ID tube so that you can lift it up or down to accommodate for various
paper widths.

Before the addition of wire, a few layers of paper are added as a "core" of sorts...