Spun Aluminium Toroid

Saturday morning brought a knock at the door. It was the Parcel Force guy with a large box all the way from Backus, Minnesota in the US.

 I knew it must be my upgraded Toroid sourced for me by Alan from Teslastuff. Instead of the original 12" toroid I had decided to go for an 18" by 4.5" to make full use of the other upgrades I had done. I had approached a couple of metal spinning companies in the UK to see if I could get an 18" toroid made, making it would be easy but I would also have to pay for the tooling to be made and this would be a fortune. Alan from Teslastuff came to the rescue and managed to get me a O.W. Landergren spun aluminium seamless 18" toroid. It wasn't cheap and I was about to find out if it was worth it.

I carefully opened the top edge and removed a thick piece of cardboard and then some paper packaging. I got my first glimpse of the toroid in a protective plastic bag. It was big.

Carefully pulled it out and lay it flat on top of the box. It was heavier than I thought. I removed it from the bag and had a close look.

I was very impressed. There is no sign of the welded seam, it is finished off beautifully, a substantial piece of aluminium. I measured the thickness of the aluminium through the central hole, approx 7mm. This thickness is the 2 pieces aluminium that make up the completed toroid, so I presume each side of the toroid starts off life as a 1/8" thick aluminium disc prior to spinning and welding.

The toroid is the most obvious part of a Tesla coil and I thought it important to make it match or exceed the high aesthetic value I have been trying to work to. I know this one does.