Hi Jim,I personally like using a winding system even on easy to wind by hand coils. You'll want to coat the coil after it's wound, and the winder really helps in this process as well. I wound coils at first by hand, but soon built a winder. There are myriads of methods to support the coil and turn it. Whichever works out best for you is good.
I personally cut 3 slots into two wooden discs (16" diameter) out of old wire spool ends. The slots were equally spaced from near the center outward. In the slots I mounted aluminum cylinders (3/8"D x 4"L). I simply screwed in a bolt from one side of the disc slot into the end of the cylinder on the other side in each slot (so 3 cylinders). The slots allow me to adjust from 3" to 15" diameter coils. The aluminum cylinder fit on the inside of the form and are slid into equal positions against the inside walls. One disc has a bearing block mounted for free spinning. The other disc has a shaft locked to it which I insert into another free spinning bearing block. I use a slow gear motor and belt system to drive the shaft and a variable DC power supply to adjust the speed.
A winding machine does come in handy when you begin building various coil sizes. In my case, it's easy to tear down and put back together since coil building is infrequent. Making the discs variable for different sized coils (way back when) sure has come in handy over the years. The largest coil I've wound with the setup is 13"D. When finishing the coil with a coating, I set the variable DC supply for a very slow turn and brush on Marine Spar Varnish (typically 3 to 4 coats). I apply it at night and simply let the coil turn very slowly for 24 hours. Then lightly sand and apply another coat, etc.. For the counter, I use a simple electromechanical counter and drive the counter with a proximity switch. A small 90 angle metallic flag mounted on one of the discs passes over the prox (not actually touching it) and switches the prox which increments the counter (24Vdc).
Winding systems can be complicated or simple. Both work fine. But if your only going to build 1 coil, then I would agree with hand winding it. But if you think you might want to build more afterwards, then a simple yet variable coil size design is very expedient process.
Regards, Bart
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jim Harvey (UDN) Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 8:57 AM To: 'Tesla Coil Mailing List' Subject: [TCML] Need coil winding adviceGreetings... (sorry if duplicate) I am designing my first TC and need to build a coil winder. My firstsecondary coil will be: Diameter: 4" Length: 18 inches Wire: 26 AWGSince the coil is not too long, I am thinking about a plywood framesupporting a motor, turns counter, and arbor. A foot switch would be used as well as some type of speed control.Can anyone point me to some links that show working units? 73 & Stay Vertical,Jim Harvey (W7YV) - The Great Curmudgeon P.O. Box 18009 Salt Lake City, UT 84118 <http://www.harveyclan.net/> http://www.harveyclan.net <http://www.harveyclan.net/w7yv.htm> http://www.harveyclan.net/w7yv.htm FIST # 13337 SKCC # 3194 "Calling CQ was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonnaget." _______________________________________________Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.237 / Virus Database: 270.11.3/1975 - Release Date: 02/27/0907:05:00 _______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
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