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Coil winding

Quoting P.L.Mason-at-bath.ac.uk: 

 > When I built my last coil I used a couple of strips of double  
 > sided tape running along the length of the form, 180deg apart. 
 > This made the slow hand-winding process a lot easier,          
 > prevented the turns from catastrophically loosening, and       
 > allowed me to take tea-breaks!

 > The question is, would such a procedure compromise the quality 
 > of the coil, in terms of breakdown voltage and RF performance? 
 > I guess most people wind their coils on big lathes, making     
 > everything quicker and much less prone to cock-ups! 

Well I do not like the idea of introducing tape under the
windings of the secondary coil. This is not to say it is fatal,
or even detrimental to the performance, but I doubt it will help.
It would seem to me that it opens a pathway for electrical
breakdowns and arcing under the wire. The tape also picks up and
holds dirt and oils which are then permanently trapped under the
winding.

I wind my coils by hand. I have found that by the time you set up
a lathe, wire tensioner, wire spindle, coil form, etc. I can have
the whole job already completed by hand. Learning to lay down a
high quality winding takes a bit of practice, but I can wind a
typical coil in under an hour. On the lathe I have found that a
simple mistake compounds quickly, even at low speed, and by the
time I get the power off and the lathe stopped I have to waste a
lot of time unwinding the bad section.

When winding by hand, and I need a break, I use some tape on top
of the winding to hold things in place. When I come back, I
remove the tape and continue where I left off.

Richard Quick


... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
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