[TCML] First secondary - wound

[Joe Mastroianni <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pic here:  <http://yfrog.com/j9firstsecondaryz>

I guess if you add it up - it probably cost me $100 and nearly a full day  to make this winder, which is a crying shame given it's all surplus stuff.  I should be more discriminating.
I added an on/off panic button, which I needed when I started.  The induction motor goes zero or about 50rpm, nothing in between.  
 
However, I found if I used a variac, I could get it to start with moderate torque, so I could hold it back for just a fraction of a second, which allowed for a smooth start.  Of course, all of you electromagnetic professionals out there are going to tell me how bad it is to make the thing slip like that - and I fully expected it to burn up.  But it didn't.  Once it was going the winding was ver smooth.

I used a technique I saw on a you tube video - one hand applying tension and feeding the wire from the spool, and the other hand holding a chunk of polyethylene scrap from one of my failed propeller gap rotor attempts.  I pressed against the incoming turn to pack the turns tightly together without any overlap.

Basically, it took about 20 minutes to wind about 23 inches of 26 ga on the 4.3 inch form, once I figured out how to make it work.  Hand and finger cramps galore.  I guess putting some pain into one's creation is part of the whole karma of coiling.  

Thanks again all for your help.  Can't do it without pupman.

Best,
Joe_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla