RE: Sewing machine motor

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

 >Have any of you guys made a coil winder out of a sewing machine motor with
 >the foot controller?  I was hoping to further reduce the already variable
 >speed thru pulleys.  (Or did I just waste my money?)

I've no experience with sewing machine motors, but I've found a variable 
speed drill on a variac (which most of us already have) to be well-suited 
to the task.  The chuck makes it easy to connect to the secondary form, and 
I've always got a hand on the rotating form to stop it quickly if need be.

 >Secondly, I also purchased a resettable electromechanical counter to keep
 >track of form revolutions.  Anyone have any hints for me?

The precise number of turns doesn't matter at all, so I'm not sure why one 
would need this.  You only need to know the approximate inductance, and 
this can be calculated in advance by knowing the wire gauge, length, and 
diameter of the form.  If you really want to know the exact inductance, you 
must measure it.

 >Thanks,
 >John Richardson

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA