Big day today. My buddy Scott did a first integration of the Solid State Tesla coil that he’s been rebuilding for me. I had a pseudo-kit SStC that i’d built several years back which Id used for several years for my shows. I’d even added a musical interface to the interrupter.. Problem was I kept blowing out expensive ($40) Insullated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT’s). I have a coffee can of them. Scott vowed to rebuild the coil so it was ‘john proof’
Scott’s rebuild included new primary and secondary.. a new full bridge (my old one was a half bridge) and a very cool new modulator . He created many of the mechanical pieces using the Generators laser cutter which he’s now deeply in love with.
he did some testing today.. but I wasn’t there to see.. today he cranked it up.. 28″ sparks and it’s note yet even tuned.. It looks like it still needs soe adjustment to get a hotter and bigger spark.. but.. hey.. 28″ and under 20 pounds.. i can live with that..
Thank you SO much Scott. you are a true genius.. and a tesla chill whisperer.
Just back from a great party at our neighbors becky and pete. They threw an amazing bash for their 25Th anniversary.. Lots of old freinds from the nighborhood and beyond.. Two great bands, home brew and fireworks ! The cops only had to come once !
I even got to help rick and lisa light the fireworks….!
Just back from a nice adventure. Diane, Joanne and I drove out to the middle of nowhere in Warren Vermont to the Phantom theater here it was a cool old barn full of interesting people mostly from the valley. We met up with our friends Bill and Julie. Bill was my mentor at MIT 35 years ago. They were there with friends Forbes and Dori. We went inside and found some other friends and people we had connections to… Classic Vermont.
The program tonight was modern dance and it was fantastic. I keep forgetting how much I love watching modern dance they had poignant pieces, funny pieces, 56, Smokies… Music was great… And the choreography was wonderful
We had one of those weird things happen tonight… A lightbulb actually burned out. Remember when lightbulbs did that? They were these weird glassy things I got hot and had wires in them…occasionally they stopped working and they ended up being a rattle. And they morphed into those weird curly cue things that made everyone look like a ghost… And now they are these LED things that are so cool you can tell that they're on if your eyes are closed.
Victim tonight is one of those vacuum fluorescent Curly Q wants. We scar the whole house and could not find one high-tech light bulb. Our only recourse was to dig into the store of illegal incandescent lightbulbs that we have buried out in the backyard.…
We have them there for when the zombies come
I dig it up dusted off and screwed in into the socket..
It lit up and soon nearly burned my hand… What a pleasure.no one saw,. I got away with it
Makes me want to find a dial telephone and call someone to tell..
