Hand Coil Wave-Winder

[Retired]

Hi,

Nice one Big Al; it's a pity I couldn't wear the car like an electric blanket. I was padded out looking like Michelin Man and even whilst wearing rigger gloves my hands were frozen. I look forward to my Rufforth visits but it was spoiled by the weather this morning; when I arrived home the car looked like it had been off-roading. I don't know how the stall holders cope in such conditions.

I returned home with half the price of a new computer still in my pocket so perhaps the cold weather helped me?

Good luck and enjoy your winder Andy; the equivalent price of the new winder these days would be a second mortgage as you'll possibly find out when you want to buy suitable winding wire.

Kind regards, Col.

[AlanBeckett]

I was surprised to find it wasn't 'white over' this morning as it was -3 when I turned in last night, although it's still pretty cold. Certainly not 'garage' weather.

Alan

[Framer Dave]

At one time, Maplin sold transformer kits which were excellent - the primary was ready wound - you wound the secondary to suit your own requirements from the info supplied. I guess some law or another put the mockers on that, or maybe the just didn't sell in sufficient numbers.

You will find that you can still get these in 50VA and 100VA versions, here:

http://livinginthepast-audioweb.co.uk/in...xfrmrmains

Scroll down almost to the bottom of the page.

Regards,

[Yorkie]

Thanks for reading the thread and for the info and the link Dave. It's some time since Maplin sold them, but they were much cheaper back then. I'm not sure I'd buy a kit now though - a 50VA kit at £28.00 would for example provide 2A at 12.5V, for which a much cheaper ready wound one could be bought. However, kits come into their own of course when you need a non-standard voltage. There's an interesting link on the site about a home-brew superhet radio - the 'Cyclone' with home-wound IFTs and MW/LW coils which is worth a squint:

http://livinginthepast-audioweb.co.uk/in...=ac85clone

[Yorkie]

The 'list price' shown on the instruction leaflet is $7.50, I wonder what that equates to now? What was an average weekly wage in the US in the mid-30's?

Andy

Using a US historical inflation calculator $7.50 in 1935 equates to $126 today (1,588% US inflation 1935 - 2012).

You can't really make an historical comparison between the US and UK because not only do we have different exchange rates over time, we have very different inflation rates. As a child in the 1940s I recall that you got $4.00 US for £1.00 GBP. In fact until currency went decimal, we often referred to half a crown (two shillings and six pence - 12½p in today’s terms) as being 'half a dollar'. I imagine that's what it would have been back in the mid 30s so the coil winder then would have been the equivalent of about £2.00GBP. UK inflation since the 1930s has been far higher than the US, and accounting for UK inflation (5,960% since 1935), at £2.00 in 1935, the winder equates to £120 at today’s prices.

Sources:

US historical inflation calculator: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

UK historical inflation calculator:

http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-i...onversion/

To drift further off topic, compared to the dollar, the pound a junk currency at today’s exchange rate. (About $1.60 US = £1.00GBP), and it’s the same for the Pound against most currencies. In 1959, along with two chums we flew to Geneva with our bikes, and spent 3 weeks riding over Swiss passes. At that time, the exchange rate was 22 Swiss Francs = £1.00GPB. In 1963, by which time I was married and had abandoned the pedal cycle for a motorbike, my wife and I retraced the same journey by motorbike. The exchange rate in just three years had fallen from 22 Francs down to 16 – a fall of 27%. Today, the Pound stands at just 1.47 Francs = £1.00 – probably less for the tourist exchange rate – a fall of 93% in 43 years. Not a suitable topic for debate as inevitably, much of the reason for that is political – not simply socio-economic, so let’s not go there!

What a lucky find at a 'Buy Now' price in the US Andy. A lot of US vintage test gear seems to go for very reasonable prices, but of course, the P&P and risk of damage tends to put the mockers on it.

I managed to get some bits of brass sheet at Rufforth today (15, 25 and 30 thou), so hopefully, will be able to get on with making the wire guide to finish off the little winder I'm on with.

[pwdrive]

I'll keep it short, in Canada in the seventies the rate dropped from $2.40 to the £ to $1.55 to the £, I laid my hands on every dollar I could and sent it back to the UK, that's how these big money boys do it I guess, sadly for me it was just a one off.

Lawrence.

[Joe]

If you get into CAD as well, David, how about some blue-prints?

- Joe

[Yorkie]

If you get into CAD as well, David, how about some blue-prints?

- Joe

I was rather hoping that you and Colin would be pathfinders and pace-setters on CAD, given that my IQ when it comes to CAD is about the same as my shoe size. Its probably that I'm slothful, but I like to kid myself that I'm so busy with so many other things. I have watched the EMS tutorial video several times, and I hope it's to grasp the basics of using EMS - not that I'm developing an attraction to the bubbly blonde presenter. (Dream on Yorkie - not only is she unattainable, you've reached the age at which you couldn't take 'yes' for an answer! But she is still very easy on the eye).

[Nick]

I found my Morris Coil Winder - it has a slightly posher tensioner/feed mechanism - I have also amassed a collection of notes about it which I either have as PDFs or can scan. I think I have all the gears & cams that there are, but its easy to make more...

[Yorkie]

When you'd mentioned your winder before Nick, I'd assumed that it was a homebrew one - not the genuine article. Very Nice!