Lamp dimmers have some limited uses in coiling. I
have found that cheap, 120vac/600W lamp dimmers sold
at Wal-Mart and similar outlets make dandy speed
controls for vacuum cleaner motors (used on sucker
gaps). I have also used dimmers as speed controls for
asynchronous rotary spark gaps based on universal-type
brush motors. One ARSG was based on an angle grinder.
Another was based on a small Black & Decker router.
Dimmers controlled these with no issues. Lastly, a
dimmer and a series motor run capacitor work well for
exciting a 12v car ignition coil from a 120vac outlet.
I've tried this with various caps and ignition coils,
and it has always worked with no damage to the dimmer.
Not all motors will tolerate a dimmer. Most AC
induction motors--even the cheap little shaded pole
motors--will seize up when placed in series with a
dimmer. I've never ruined a motor or a dimmer this
way--the motors simply refused to rotate and made
scary buzzing sounds.
On the other hand, most brush-type "universal" motors
used in vacuum cleaners and many common power tools
respond very smoothly to dimmer speed control.
My cheesy, homebrew secondary coil winding jig uses a
gear motor from an ice cream maker (low RPM, lotsa
torque, great for coil winding). Unfortunately, the
little shaded pole induction motor inside the thing
balks at dimmer speed control--won't budge. With a
10A variac in series, the thing can be smoothly
throttled across its whole RPM range. Sometimes, you
just gotta bite the bullet and shell out for a variac.
Cheers,
Greg
--- neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi Scott,
You think a dimmer wouldn't work properly even on a
cooling fan? I do have a
smaller (5 amp)variac that I could use, but like
previously suggested, I may
not adjust the flow at all. If I had to, I could go
the baffle route. I've
heard this before about dimmer switches. What is the
problem with them, in
relation to coils? Thanks for your help,
Neal.
Quoting Scott Bogard <teslas-intern@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
Neal,
Never use a dimmer with anything coil
related, it will not work
properly. Many of us have been down this road, it
never ends well.
Either buy a variac, or in this circumstance I
would suggest that you
just build a baffle like Bart said. It can be as
simple as a piece of
cardboard taped to the back or your fan covering
it partly. Best of luck!
Scott Bogard.
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