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Re: fFINAL REPORT Cu COIL vs Al COIL (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:08:25 -0700
From: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: fFINAL REPORT Cu COIL vs Al COIL (fwd)

    FWIW, I was on the Dodge Magnet Wire site the other  day, and they 
advertise their various flavors of Thermaleze in *aluminum* as  well from 4 Gauge 
through 30 Gauge.
 
_http://www.pdmw.com/Products/ProductSpecificationIndex.htm_ 
(http://www.pdmw.com/Products/ProductSpecificationIndex.htm) 
 
    I just bought 26 lbs of 17ga (copper!) magnet wire  from the local rewind 
shop. "Inverter" rated wire, ugly imide brown coating,  cost ~$280. The 
manager said the only things he uses aluminum for is  transformers, and some 
contracts for rebuilds spec copper even if the original  used aluminum (leaves an 
empty window, and probably runs a lot cooler!). He also  mentioned the only 
*motors* that he'd seen use aluminum windings from the  factory were some older 
Lincoln motors.
    Come to think of it, the "windings" of the typical  squirrel-cage AC 
induction motor's *rotor* are almost invariably aluminum! Must  be a great 
inertial/weight/cost/ease of fabrication savings in that  application. Conversely, 
most DC motors use copper commutators, bars, and  windings in their armatures. 
But they are notorious for their inertial, weight,  and cost penalty...
 
-Phil LaBudde"

	Any idea of the relative cost of aluminum and copper wire?  Amazed Al is available in Thermaleze - wouldn't have thought there was that much demand?

Ed