Original poster: "K. C. Herrick" <kchdlh@xxxxxxx> Joe- Several suggestions:1. Look for red electrical varnish in a spray can; the brand/# I found was Sprayon #S00601. I suppose it's much the same as that tradenamed Glyptol.
2. If you happen to have the White Cap brand of 12" Sonotube(R), look for end closures that work beautifully: Cambro brand, #RFSCWC12, food-bucket lids. Made, it appears, from clear butyrate and available thru commercial restaurant-supply houses. They may also make them (cheaper) from that milky-colored plastic; I forget its name at the moment. Cambro has a Website; cambro.com but I'm not sure. If you want to do this & your "sonotube" won't fit, look for the White Cap brand at contractor-supply houses; it's cheap enough.
Those lids just snap right on--a perfect fit; you can hold them in place w/ beads of Si RTV. And first drill holes in their centers if you are to mount it on a lathe (see 4).
3. Here's what I did to provide space-winding if you should want to do that: First I wound on a tight layer of cotton twine of appropriate diameter; you could spray that w/ something convenient to hold it in place if you wanted. Then I wound on tightly a layer of 2'"-wide Teflon plumber's tape to "rigidize" the twine; but with varnish on the twine, perhaps that would not be necessary. Check McMaster-Carr for twine, tape & varnish.
4. Next wind on the wire using the spiral groove created by the twine to guide it. Tedious, of course--necessarily by hand and slowly, but if you make a perhaps-temporary motorized lathe as I did it would be a lot quicker.
5. Finally, apply the electrical varnish over the wire--mostly for the purpose, of course, of holding the wire in place.
And have fun: name of the game! Ken Herrick Oakland, CA Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: Joe Smith <mailto:joesmith@xxxxxxxx><joesmith@xxxxxxxx>Anyone know what the red liquid that is used in motor re-winding shops is called?I'd like to know what to ask for when I go to my local motor shop.I'm thinking this might be the way to go with my 12" cardboard tube(sonotube?)Any comments welcome. Regards Joe Smith