31-03-2013, 08:13 AM
My thoughts too Alan.
Apart from the winder that John posted the link to, which showed the American Antique Radio Society video of rewinding field coils for mains energised speakers, I haven't seen a homebrew design which will traverse the turns back and forth at the correct rate for the gauge of wire being used. They all seem to rely upon running the wire through fingers as best one can, the effect being a scramble wound coil. No doubt coils made in such a manner will work OK, but a winder that will lay the turns neatly side by side is what's really called for. What surprised me about the US one was how 'clunky' the rack and pinion traversing arrangement was, with its coarse teeth pitch, though it seemed to work fine. Obviously the two variables which need to be adjustable as the width of the coil, and the turns per inch (cm, or whatever) according to the gauge of wire.
I thought that the manual one was reasonably priced but couldn't make my mind up whether it was all plastic. Seemed a bit too cheap to be metal. P&P on the other one was the killer punch!
A lot of people on youtube seemd to have twigged onto using a cheap calculator as a turns counter - sometimes using a cam to press the = button with each turn of the coil, others, which wire a microswitch or magnetic reed switch across the calculator contactss, as I did on my hand winder.
Apart from the winder that John posted the link to, which showed the American Antique Radio Society video of rewinding field coils for mains energised speakers, I haven't seen a homebrew design which will traverse the turns back and forth at the correct rate for the gauge of wire being used. They all seem to rely upon running the wire through fingers as best one can, the effect being a scramble wound coil. No doubt coils made in such a manner will work OK, but a winder that will lay the turns neatly side by side is what's really called for. What surprised me about the US one was how 'clunky' the rack and pinion traversing arrangement was, with its coarse teeth pitch, though it seemed to work fine. Obviously the two variables which need to be adjustable as the width of the coil, and the turns per inch (cm, or whatever) according to the gauge of wire.
I thought that the manual one was reasonably priced but couldn't make my mind up whether it was all plastic. Seemed a bit too cheap to be metal. P&P on the other one was the killer punch!
A lot of people on youtube seemd to have twigged onto using a cheap calculator as a turns counter - sometimes using a cam to press the = button with each turn of the coil, others, which wire a microswitch or magnetic reed switch across the calculator contactss, as I did on my hand winder.
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
