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Re: Home Made Variac



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> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Home Made Variac
> Date: Thursday, February 10, 2000 1:49 AM
> 
> Original Poster: "Kristian Ukkonen" <kukkonen-at-cc.hut.fi> 
> 
> 
> Tesla List wrote:
> > Original Poster: Ed Phillips <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>
> > Tesla List wrote:
> > > Original Poster: "Megavolt Nick"
<tesla-at-fieldfamily.prontoserve.co.uk>
> > > > expect to pay around $150. Even pricey Newark had a nice one on
sale just
> > > > recently. I mounted my variac
> > > > in a wooden box with AC volt and ammeters. Cheap ones like the kind
you
> > > Are you joking? You can pick them up for $30 on ebay - and less from
gov.
> > > surplus places.
> >         As a practical matter it would take less work to earn $150 (or
> $30) by
> > working as a box boy at the market than it would to build a
> > variac!!!!!!!!!!!!  Of course, if you are a massochist and don't mind
an
> > inferior product, have at it.
> 
> I'm certain Hammer of Norway just loves that last comment.. >:)
> http://home5.inet.tele.dk/f-hammer/tesla/variac/variac.htm
> Certainly not inferior product, IMHO. 
> 

Holy cow!!!, what a piece of work.. You know, though, that he just "says"
the wine bottle is for size comparison, when in reality, winding a
transformer is so mindnumbing, that the wine is probably necessary as a
brain lubricant.<grin>

> Anyway, the idea behind building a variac (or whatever object) 
> is either the un-availability of the object where one lives (as 
> perceived by the builder), or the JOY of building the object. 
> 
> For the latter, I would indeed add that not everyone consideres 
> reaching the goal more important than the process/tools required 
> for it - in fact, perhaps it would be more satisfactory to oneself
> to run a coil that has _all_ parts made by the coiler - the 
> extremist coiler would even smelt/cast/roll the transformer core 
> laminates from iron ore, draw the copper wires after isolating
> copper from copper ore and make electricity for running the coil
> by steam engine running alternator etc.. After all, this IS a hobby!! 
> Part of the fun is actually building things, "tinkering". Most of 
> us _could_ buy a TC instead of building one, but that would not 
> give the pleasure of building one.


And that's what you'll need those books from Lindsay Pubs for.. Smelting,
casting, drawing, all that is covered..

> 
> ps. Some people have actually built machine tools from scratch
> by first building a charcoal foundry to cast parts etc..
> http://www.lindsaybks-dot-com/bks/gingbks/index.html
> Compared to making a variac, that is more profound.. :)
> 
>