Collaborate Disseminate
If you think shorting a transformer’s winding means big sparks and fried wires: think again. In this educational video, titled The Magnetic Bypass, [Sam Ben-Yaakov] flips this assumption. By cleverly …read more Continue reading Hacking Flux Paths: The Surprising Magnetic Bypass
Occasionally, we get a tip for a project that is so compelling that we just have to write it up despite lacking details on how and why it was built. …read more Continue reading Cool Kinetic Sculpture Has Tooling Secrets to Share
Admittedly, not a lot of people have a regular need to varnish coils. It’s mainly something that Tesla coil builders and other high-voltage experimenters are concerned with. But since that …read more Continue reading Junkbox Build Keeps Tesla Coils Perfectly Varnished
Like many hackers, [Matthias Wandel] has a penchant for measuring the world around him, and quantifying the goings-on in his home is a bit of a hobby. And so when …read more Continue reading Using Homebrew Coils to Measure Mains Current, and Taking the Circuit Breaker Challenge
We’ve grown to expect seeing mechatronics project incorporate a standard complement of components, things like stepper motors, Arduinos, lead screws, timing belts and pulleys, and aluminum extrusions. So when a …read more Continue reading Automatic Coil Winder Gets it Done with Simple Hardware and Software
Anyone who has ever wound a toroidal coil by hand can tell you that it’s not exactly a fun job. Even with the kinds of coils used in chokes and transformers for ham radio, which generally have relatively few windings, passing all that wire through the toroid time after time …read more
Continue reading Homebrew Coil Winder Makes Toroids a Snap to Wind
Toilet paper has become a hot button issue over the last month or so, and the pandemic prompted panic buying, and consequent shortages. Now there are adequate supplies, at least where this is being written, but sometimes one’s rolls aren’t the domestic items we’re all used to. This happened to …read more
Transformers are deceptively simple devices. Just coils of wire sharing a common core, they tempt you into thinking you can make your own, and in many cases you can. But DIY transformers have their limits, as [Great Scott!] learned when he tried to 3D-print his own power transformer.
To be …read more
Continue reading 3D-Printed Transformer Disappoints, but Enlightens
What’s the best way to turn a high-powered brushless DC motor optimized for hobby use into a decent low-RPM generator? Do you take a purely mechanical approach and slap a gearbox on the shaft? Or do you tackle the problem electrically?
The latter approach is what [GreatScott!] settled on with his BLDC rewinding and rewiring project. Having previously explored which motors have the best potential as generators, he knew the essential problem: in rough terms, hobby BLDCs are optimized for turning volts into RPMs, and not the other way around. He started with a teardown of a small motor, to …read more
Continue reading Rewound and Rewired BLDC Makes a Half-Decent Generator
Finding just the right off-the-shelf part to complete a project is a satisfying experience – buy it, bolt it on, get on with business. Things don’t always work out so easily, though, which often requires the even more satisfying experience of modifying an existing part to do the job. Modifying a stepper motor by drilling a hole down its shaft probably qualifies for the satisfying mod of the year award.
That’s what [Russ] did to make needed improvements to his CNC flat-coil winder, which uses a modified delta-style 3D-printer to roll fine magnet wire out onto adhesive paper to form …read more
Continue reading Stepper Motor Mods Improve CNC Flat Coil Winder