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Bob Svangren
112 E. 16TH
Kennewick, WA
99336

Bob Svangren builds Tesla coils the way I wish that I could build them. Somehow, mine just don't come out as nice. Bob's work is professional both in appearance and performance. He calls his current project “Stromboli” (named after a volcano). Stromboli can produce steady discharges of from 45" to 49" in length. This unit is by far better than some that I've seen in science museums.

The primary coil is made up of 4 & 3/4 turns of 3/8" copper tubing. The secondary is wound with 1242 turns of #22 ga. magnet wire close wound. Bob has determined the frequency to be 208,956 Hz with the 5 X 14" toroid in place.

The capacitor bank consists of 16 ceramic .003 mfd, 30 Kv units hooked in parallel to provide a total capacitance of .048 mfd. at 30 Kv.

The spark unit is a rotary gap design with 6 discharge electrodes on an 8" lexan wheel. The AC-DC motor is tuned to run at 3950 rpm.

The power supply is a 12 Kv transformer providing a 2 Kva power input.

Two sets of choke coils are used on the high voltage side with several safety devices built into the power control panel. A reactance coil is used to control the current supply into the transformer.

Power into the device is controlled by a 31 ampere power-stat.

If ever there was an annual prize for “Tesla Coil of the Year,” Bob Svangren would be a winner. Other photos here include two more examples of Bob Svangren's work. The quality of the reproductions fail to adequately show the excellence of Bob's talents.