Stubblefield coils (bifilar) and speculations

[jeanna]

WOW
Great going!

You seem to have some voltage when they are dry.
Were they ever wet before you took the reading?

The wet reading looks about right, but the dry reading looks too high.

I wonder if you would get something from just those 2 kinds of wires unwound?
Is the battery on your meter fresh this year? 

So, now Yes, I believe you will need a nail at least on victor.

Is victor a shellac one sided record?
If it is... shellac is soluble in alcohol.
I do not think you will be dissolving it, but you could soften it,

OR perhaps a layer of shellac would act as glue better than something else??

well done!!

jeanna

[protonmom]

Jeanna, Yes, they had been wet, but they felt dried out today.  Must have still had a lot of moisture inside.  The outside was def. dry.
On the pancake, I have not figured out what to do with the wires that end up in the middle of the record at the spindle, unless I were to just cover that layer with cotton and then run the inside wires up and to the outside of the record.  That was the way I started to do it before I chipped out the huge hole.  No problem though...I have a lot of old records waiting to be put to some use.  I also do not know just how to hook up all the ends of the wires.  For each layer I would have four loose ends.  Now it I had say ten layers....holy moly...how would I hook them all together?  And do I hook up inside cu to outside fe each layer? (or vice versa) Or, would I connect all cu's together and all fe's together and then have one lead on each side of the disc?  And, is there a possibility of hooking up a joule thief to some such thing as this?  (in line with it, I guess)  Lots of things to think about.

[jeanna]

Right,
the old 2 wires, 4 ends problem times x!

Why not start with victor and pulse a battery on one wire and test with the dmm on the other wire?
The trouble is a dmm is not a good tool for pulsed dc and the back spike that will come off the other wire when it is in its unpulse moment, may not be read. Which means you need a scope, or something like that. (I never had a scope but this year I risked it with a hand held which was 189 at allelectronics.com It is worth saving up for this because all this stuff is turning out to be something that needs that tool.

I suppose you could do what MK1 does and put the ... well cross that bridge later.

We never got very far with the things we tried. I think you are in a good spot to try a few of the things that are interesting to you as you have already done, then move to the next thing. I think there was a natural progression that took us to the joule thief.

And for now, I think it helps to make this point.
We did not stop because we were successful.
We also did not fail, but we are not yet finished.
So, clamber up onto the hay-wagon and catch a free ride home to the barn. (you will recognize that metaphor when you get to it.! it has to do with the back spike.)

jeanna

[protonmom]

99 toroids of B-eer on the wall........

Jeanna:

Well, last night Victor died.  The record finally cracked all the way due to stress of handling, I assume.
So I started unwinding the wires to use again.  That is when I found out that one of the under layer fe splice connections had come undone.  No wonder my readings were always the same whether I connected both layers or only one!  So, that tells me that if I were to CAREFULLY re-wire a new Victor (or other such record) using long enough fe so I don't have to splice it....I should have very good readings!  That is encouraging and makes me want to get with it on a new one.  As I said I have plenty of old records reaching out for some purpose in "life".  Maybe if I used one of those really old thick records...?  Not sure about trying to enlarge the spindle hole for a large bolt, though, and a skinnny bolt just large enough in dia. to go into the spindle hole might not be large enough for such a huge winding as this could be.  I might very carefully take a rotozip to it and try to enlarge the hole that way.  Grind a little off at a time.  These are so easy to make and the layers should pile up nicely, but I do have to figure out the center core bolt for the magnetism part  of the system.  Any ideas on that?  Hey, what about re-bar?  Would that work?  I think it just might fit in the hole, or at least not take too much adjustment.  Didn't you use all-thread rod at one time?  Do they have rod the size of the spindle hole and will that be enough for the job?  How about this:  re-bar or all thread to go through the hole, then add some kind of larger, fatter iron pipe to slip over that?  Would that still provide the magnetism we need?  Sorry for such a long post.

[jeanna]

Hi protonmom,
I am glad to hear you found that the splice didn't work. This is great information.

What if you were to use a miniature version that does not require a splice?
I admit that my style is to make a small version just to get going on something.
But see,
You could still learn about relative voltages and many things. You just might find out how much length your coil needs by extrapolating what you get from what you want to get out of it.

I am not proposing that you must use my style, but it does have certain advantages like you can see inexpensively if you like an idea.

To answer the Q about the metal spike. I do not think any of us know how fat it needs to be.
Only gary used a pancake and his results were as inconclusive as the rest of ours, if I remember right.

I have one NS coil with 360 turns total, so 180+180 made on a 3/8 inch zinc plated bolt from the hardware store. I even used the nut that fits it to secure the bottom. I bet the inside of the record is somewhere around 3/8"

BTW that particular coil is a very good one.
I made it as a non galvanic coil just to eliminate that element. I was getting frustrated because we were dealing with too many unknowns and there were always too many reasons something I did wouldn't work.
I learned a good amount from the experiments I made with it. I used about 2.4v battery for input. (It is an inductor with the 2 metals and it is possible to use it as a joule thief etc...)

When I made it I wound it onto a straw which fit perfectly around the 3/8". So, I can compare iron core with air core. They are different and the iron core works better for what I was doing.

I'd say, the only way to know is to try.
Use a bundle of rebar ties and see what that does??
I understand rebar tiewire works well as a core.

So have fun this saturday,

jeanna