CMPT

[z.monkey]

The epoxy started to solidify before I was finished winding the coil.  You can see the gaps in the windings and the irregular, ellipsoid shape...  Fail...

So, up to this point everything happened on Friday 03/05/2010.  Saturday morning I awoke determined to get it right.  I didn't have anymore NIB magnets, but wanted to give it another shot.  So I scrounged up some ceramic ring magnets, just to give the equatorial coil winding another shot.  Of course these didn't fit the jig I built for the NIB magnets, so I have to build another jig, for different size magnets.  I hit the shop hard on Saturday, and built what took two weeks to build before, in about 4 hours...

I enlisted some help for the winding, and gluing process.  My friend applied a thin layer of epoxy to the wire as it was feeding into the coil.  I was controlling the motor speed, and putting tension on the wire to make sure we got it all the way in there.  We were still using a 5 minute epoxy,  and even though this coil is a lot more symmetrical, it still has the problems where the epoxy started to harden before all the wire was in place...

So, here we can see the two botched coils I built this weekend...

[z.monkey]

Then here is the entire collection of Fail...

[z.monkey]

No, I don't really consider this to be failure...

Failure is an impostor.  We learn more by failing than we do by not trying...

So anyway, I am starting to get the process worked out.  I need to use epoxy with a longer set time, so I can get all the windings in there before the epoxy goes solid.  Also I have built two winding jigs that I can use for 1.15 inch diameter ceramic magnets, and 1.0 inch diameter NIB magnets.  Not having to remake the winding jigs makes subsequent coils easier.  I solved the magnetic core inside diameter problem by using steel washers instead of a NIB magnet.  Then also worked out the wire handling holes...

Actually its been three weeks since I jumped back into this project.  So, maybe, within a month I have a usable equatorial coil, and I be able to go back to testing...

[z.monkey]

OK, here is where we pickup again, two weeks later.  Got some more magnets and new ideas.  So back to the garage...

CEET2 Redo...

Howdy All,

OK, here we are again winding an equatorial coil.  This time I have 50 minute epoxy which will be more flexible when we are winding the coil.  The trade-off is that it is not a clear epoxy.  There is a black component and a white component and when mixed is a dull gray color.  So, anyway we are going to assemble the pieces in the winding jig as before...

[z.monkey]

The other epoxy had a mixing tube and this one does not.  So I decided to mix the epoxy in a glue syringe so that I could inject the epoxy into the small space between the equatorial coil keepers...