[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Coil coating: (was Re: Fiat PVC, Fiat Lux)
In a message dated 7/6/99 4:33:46 PM Central Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:
<< Total agreement. I would NEVER wind a coil on my lathe. Esp. not
if I would be coating it with epoxy, etc (running the lathe to prevent
sags and runs). A lathe is an (expensive) piece of high tech
equipment and should not be abused for such purposes. It only
took me about 2 1/2 hrs to build a electrical winding rig out of
scrap parts, I had laying around. It was a most beneficial aid in
secondary construction. Another problem with winding a coil on
a lathe: This is EXTREMELY difficult to do, if you wind the coil
alone. You will never be able to stop the lathe in time (mine
goes down to 60 rpm), if the wire tangles, etc. If the wire gets
caught or tangles somehow, it WILL snap before you can stop
the lathe. My lathe spins down slowly. It doesn´t have a quick
stop. (I´m not sure if any lathe has a quick stop, because you
have high inertial energy "stored in the lathe" esp at low (high
gear ratios) turning speed). >>
Hi Reinhard and All,
What, NEVER? The winding jig is fine unless you are lucky enuff to have a
wood lathe.
It is easy to take a length of threaded rod and pass it thru the headstock
and the tailstock.
I start out by using a fly cutter to cut two washers out of 3/8 or 1/2 inch
plywood. I set the cutting tool on the fly cutter so the washer has the
inside diameter of the bevel slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the
pvc. You want the washers, not the hole, and you want the small diameter of
the washer to fit inside the pvc while the bevel can be used to sandwich
against the pvc. The threaded rod then passes thru the washers and the length
of pvc. You then thread and tighten nuts to clamp the entire assembly. The
bevel works to center the length of pvc just as well as a hunk of wood can be
centered between the lathe centers. Sometimes the pvc is too long for one
threaded rod plus the length of the lathe bed, and I'll use coupling nuts to
join two lengths of rod. With one end of the rod sticking out of the left
side of the headstock, and the other end coming out of the right hand side of
the tailstock, it is easy to stick some sort of crank on the end of the rod
and you're in the coilwinding business. I have not felt a need for electric
turning power. With one hand turning the crank and the other hand guiding the
wire, the wire seems to slide into place as it tensions against the previous
turn. I can even clamp a magnifying reading glass into the tool post. I need
it.
I suspect much of this is redundant from what you guys do on a winding jig.
I have never used the winding jig arrangement as winding on a wood lathe
works so well.
It's a great summer. :-))
Ralph Zekelman