In poking around McMaster Carr, they seem to have some steel wire. I may be on my own in suppying this to the manufacturer.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#carbon-steel-wire/=9fjuax

Does anyone know much about 'black oxide' coating? Initial research thinks it might work ok. BTW, former constructions I did were with annealed. I hope to never use it again due to its extreme stiffness.

Quote from: MW383 on October 25, 2010, 02:35:40 PM

BTW, former constructions I did were with annealed. I hope to never use it again due to its extreme stiffness.

Does this mean the annealed didn't work?

I was just trying to kick myself for not using the annealed, because I have not been able to get a strong change in magnetic direction and thought it was the soft steel fence wire at fault.

I think you may have saved me some troubled fingers.

thank you,

jeanna

Jeanna,
Annealed did work and worked well in my 1st 2 NS coils. But it was an absolute bear to handle, especially when simultaneously trying to wind with copper. I eventually went to winding just copper onto a layer - covering with cloth - and then winding annealed so that it wedged itself between the coppers. It worked alright but I honestly never want to go back to winding this way. It was a messy way to construct. Another disadvantage was tremendous spring tension present. I had to really be careful in order to keep things pulled tight, otherwise it would unravel itself quite easily. Nope, no more annealed iron for me. 

So I'm to the point of fiberglass covering both copper and non-annealed iron, and then winding in a more sane fashion. As stated in prior posts, I'll be using a fairly thick insulation layer of battery separator between the layers. My intent is to keep localized fields between the Fe+Cu wires organized and residing in their own layers. My former wild / unorganized coils were obviously all over the place in regards to any possible field aspects of windings themselves. Maybe being super-tidy will have no effect, but I will at least try and eliminate the possibility.


Laser,
Seeing that you have coils to immediately work with, pulse a DC current into the iron windings only and look for any observable results in the copper. There should be something happening there because of varying field in the iron wire sitting right next to the copper. There are many other offshoot experiments that could be done along these lines. My thought is, the primary can stand alone for heavy power production.

Quote1018 is fine. What gauge? I will quote for 500-1000-2500-5000 lengths (manufacturer's lengths)
Interest in copper as well? What gauge? I aready have quote for 16ga. ($/ft) see below.

The 1018 was in reference to the core and not the iron wire. The 1006 wire at McMasters looks acceptable. The black oxide is mainly for looks and offers little corrosion protection. Still looking for 1018 wire but the 1006 looks much better with its 99.5 to 99.75 % iron and .08% carbon compared to standard fence wire. The 1006 black oxide is $34.20 for 1660 ft. for 16 gauge. Personally I dont want to use zinc coatings and its more expensive anyway.
MW I assume the price quotes are for the fiberglass insulated copper wire. Is 500 ft the minimum run they want to do with both the copper and iron? Im checking out another steel wire company tomorrow for 1018 iron wire. Meanwhile can you get a price on the .048 1006 iron wire for insulation at 1660 ft. Maybe we can work something out here.

QuoteI'll be using a fairly thick insulation layer of battery separator between the layers.My intent is to keep localized fields between the Fe+Cu wires organized and residing in their own layers.

Interesting thought. Not familiar with the battery separators. Are they high dielectric and usable on a secondary?   

@ IotaYodi,

The bag of butts is a great idea, I will look for them. Utilux springs to mind.

Quote from: IotaYodi on October 25, 2010, 12:47:39 PM
Not a very high iron content. Off hand I would say no.
You can buy uninsulated butt connectors from magnet wire size to service entry size. A bag of 25 of Awg 16 to 12 sizes is about $4.00 us. When crimped right there hard to pull off. 

The magnetic field of the core runs north and south which puts the field perpendicular or 90 deg to the copper and iron windings. What affect would there be if you coiled the "insulated" iron wire around the copper wire then wind that on the core? The iron magnetic field would be going north and south along with the core in this manner. I would think there would be more amps produced this way.
Anyone have any insights or knowledge on this?

Your proposed question on the magnetic field is very interresting if it could be done, I'm not saying it can't, it would be difficult.

Is this what you mean, winding the iron wire so it's length lies in line with the lines of magnetism which flows from pole to pole, as I have draw it below?

jim

3470 = The stubblefield long bolt end to end with the magnetic lines of force flowing from end to end but all around it.
3480 = Showing 1 single turn of a single strand of copper wire (a loop) with many turns around this loop made of iron or steel wire.

The lines of force passing through the horizontal turns of iron wire.
I can imagine hundreds of loops all in a single strand of copper wire.
Instead of a bifilar wind it would be a loopy wind, is there another word to describe this procedure?

A bit like a guitar base string wound around the iron bolt, the copper wire would have to be insulated first though, oh boy when we think this coil is nailed another version comes along.

Please remember, we need to get a original working coil to compair the different coils against.