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Coillah's First Coil

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LAN_403

coillah

Mon Aug 18 2008, 02:55AM

Registered Member #1517 Joined: Wed Jun 04 2008, 06:55AM
Location: Chico CA
Posts: 304

Hey guys

as some of you know, I have been busy lately buying up stuff for my first coil. Thus far I have collected:

15kv 30ma NST
24AWG
24 Cornell Dubillier Caps, 2000V .15uF

I bought a 4" dia pvc form, cut to 26"(20" winding) for the secondary
.25" copper tube for primary
lexan for housing the static spark gap and caps

Now my current concern is the sealant for the secondary. I bought a brand of Rustoleum, clear latex sealant. Will this work?

Here are some pictures of my progress:
Coil Mark 1

Herr Zapp

Mon Aug 18 2008, 11:37PM

Registered Member #480 Joined: Thu Jul 06 2006, 07:08PM
Location: North America
Posts: 644

Coillah -

I'd be cautious about using any latex-based "sealant" to seal a TC secondary. Generally, latex paints and coatings are water-based, and intended for use on porous materials (wood, dry-wall,etc).

On a secondary with a PVC coilform, the coating may tend to trap some moisture between the windings and the PVC form. Eventually, all the moisture should diffuse out of the coating, but it could take quite a while.

I'd just go with conventional solvent-base polyurethane varnish, and not have any worries about potential moisture entrapment.

Regards,
Herr Zapp

MOT_man

Tue Aug 19 2008, 01:22AM

Registered Member #1127 Joined: Mon Nov 19 2007, 12:08AM
Location:
Posts: 139

Solvent base clear coat ONLY. Urethane --- NEVER water based products!
+ it dries faster!

coillah

Tue Aug 19 2008, 03:24AM

Registered Member #1517 Joined: Wed Jun 04 2008, 06:55AM
Location: Chico CA
Posts: 304

duely noted guys. thanks for the reply :)

how's the secondary look?

Andyman

Tue Aug 19 2008, 07:14AM

Registered Member #1083 Joined: Mon Oct 29 2007, 06:16PM
Location: Upland, California
Posts: 256

Looking good! I like how..um..red..it is. I remember on my coil I would just sit there stroking the windings because of how smooth they were

coillah

Tue Aug 19 2008, 02:29PM

Registered Member #1517 Joined: Wed Jun 04 2008, 06:55AM
Location: Chico CA
Posts: 304

Dude, hahah I forgot I left those pics up

They are now my facebook default images XD

EvanLAB

Mon Aug 25 2008, 11:07AM

Registered Member #1452 Joined: Thu Apr 24 2008, 09:24AM
Location: Yekaterinburg
Posts: 5

Hello!

Very beautiful coil, eye pleases! Smart work! Coillah, very interestingly, what is the time you on spent for winding (without a covering a varnish)?

The matter is that I wound in manual, having spent 7 hours of continuous work! Thought that I shall keep within hour in 2...3. Next day the back and hands strongly hurted. As it is necessary to make from time to time various TC, I think the machine tool will be expedient...

Cheers!

Tom540

Mon Aug 25 2008, 09:48PM

Banned on 3/17/2009.
Registered Member #487 Joined: Sun Jul 09 2006, 01:22AM
Location:
Posts: 617

MOT_man wrote ...

Solvent base clear coat ONLY. Urethane --- NEVER water based products!
+ it dries faster!

Ive tried water based varnish before and the only problem i had with it is it wasn't as durable. Other that that it works fine.

coillah

Tue Aug 26 2008, 03:57AM

Registered Member #1517 Joined: Wed Jun 04 2008, 06:55AM
Location: Chico CA
Posts: 304

Well I just switched to spray can acrylic. Clear of course, cause I could not find a polyurethane coating.

I just received my autotransformer today. Its so shiny and new.

I spoke with my professor about using the manufacturing lab for my coil production and he said it was ok. So now I have an entire work shop complete with bandsaws and lathes to complete my coil. I'm giddy.

EvanLAB: My secondary took about 2 hours to wind. Once I got the technique down, the last half took about ten minutes. The advantage of the power drill is that the setup was relatively cheap, amounting to 20 dollars (if you have the drill already). It was easy to control once I got the hang of the drill trigger (and the battery wore down a bit :) )

Peace!

Seoul_lasers

Tue Aug 26 2008, 04:09AM

Registered Member #1630 Joined: Sat Aug 09 2008, 11:36AM
Location: Seoul Korea
Posts: 115

Tom540 wrote ...

MOT_man wrote ...

Solvent base clear coat ONLY. Urethane --- NEVER water based products!
+ it dries faster!

Ive tried water based varnish before and the only problem i had with it is it wasn't as durable. Other that that it works fine.

You are very very lucky, often moisture get caught under the sec winding and can cause a flashover/shorted winding. Actually i use either Urathane varnish (crystal clear coat) (get it at a paint store) and or 2 part epoxy compound. I usually spray XMFR enamel on the windings to hold them then epoxy the secondary as I did on my last coil. I do about 3 layers on my coil. The dielectric strength is great.

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