Coil Making 101: Pancake Coils

FastMHz, Wed Jun 21 2006, 10:33PM

I've gotten a few requests from folks wanting to know just how I create those flat coils to launch rockets and other objects...well, I decided to create a video tutorial to show the entire process:

Video Tutorial
Re: Coil Making 101: Pancake Coils
..., Thu Jun 22 2006, 12:12AM

seems like it would make things go a heck of a lot faster if you put your drill in the vise, then the bolt in the drill, put on a pair of gloves to prevent cutting your fingers on the wire, slowly giving the drill some juice and holding the wire tight... It would also (probably) result in a more regular coil wink

Looks good in any case!
Re: Coil Making 101: Pancake Coils
FastMHz, Thu Jun 22 2006, 04:31PM

I agree that using a drill in a vice does seem easier, but it actually makes it harder to get a regular coil as the wire will start overlapping itself and you end up with an uneven coil. This is because the bolt flexes too much. I actually spent more time fighting the drill method and re-wrapping 3 times until it came out right than I did doing it once manually.

Anyway, that coil in the video is now complete, has 3 layers and I will wire it up and start testing it soon. This is my first 3 layer coil!