winding a coil with new wire

[Norman]

Got the new wire today #28 and #36 gage so I jumped on the winder.
Makes a big difference with good new wire didn't break it once. I was sweating
that #36 gage I've broke more of that than I care to think about.
While waiting on the wire I tried some splicing I didn't like the small ball
the wire made by welding it together with a bic lighter so I practiced
soldering it got it to look real good so thats the way I'll do it from now on
made a little jig to hold the wire in whats the reason I was having trouble
trying to solder it.
Got a couple of photos of the winding of the coil
all done with the winding 3601 turns of 36 gage wire went on there.

this the ohms reading on the fine(blue wire) you can't see the coil very well
in the next 2 photos but it covered with masking tape and the wires are soldered on.
If this coil works good I'll wrap it with a string covering and may coat the string
with epoxy.

reading on the 28 gage wire (white wire) there was 5 rows with 389 turns total. I insulated each winding row from the next layer. I put on too much 28 gage the ohms should read around 2.0 to 2.20 ohms and no more. Sooo I had to unwind the whole thing and get the heavy wire reading down to 2.0 ohms. the engine will run on it like it is but the lights won't work right. they are very dim

one more shot of the coil I tested it then unwound it to fix too many turns of 28 gage wire. Using the new wire made this so much more easier.

[K.i.p]

Nice work. Just curious how the foot peddle variable speed custom winder worked out for you. ?

[Norman]

The winder worked good. Still a little fast even with the wood block on the
foot throttle to limit the speed. I have a light dimmer I might plug the machine
into it and see how that will work for controlling the speed.
One thing I liked was not breaking any wire. The coil turned out looking
very nice I just hope it works as good as it looks.
Norman
update on using a rotary light dimmer
I added the dimmer it helps a bunch I can slow it to where it just moves and easily
dial it up to warp speed.

[Norman]

the coil was not so good, runs the engine fine lights not so good. Turning on the lights kills the engine at idle. I removed the fine wire completely. I reduced the 28 gage wire length to 2.0 ohms from the 4.0 ohm rewound the fine wire back on. lights and engine now work light is a little dim. I'll add some more fine wire,try to get it to 350 /360 ohms.
I think the magic numbers for the 28 gage is 2.1 ohms and 360 ohms on the 36 gage
I'll get it right sooner or later.

[GearNut]

Trial and error. I hold Nikola Tesla in high regard. That was playing with windings!
You have got it down to a fine science, Norman! I thank you for your efforts, I am eager to learn your results as I most likely will follow your lead on this one. Would you reckon that BBQ rotisserie motor would make a good winder, or too slow?

[Norman]

might be a little slow you could make a hand winder like I have in the other post
made out of pvc pipe and a bolt with a copper water pipe soldered on for the handle
red neck and cheap the hardest thing is to make a coil mount to attach the coil to the winder
I've used 5 min jb weld to mount it a couple of times it can break off in the middle of the winding
process making for a lot of cussing and whining.
good luck on trying this.
all of the coils would run the engine what I'm really trying to find out is what amount of each size
wire will make the lights on a bike work the best.
To allow the engine to idle with the lights on and bright enough to see good at dark.
I've had only 2 mag coils that came with the engines where the coils are just too weak
to let the engine idle with the lights on. Matter of fact the last 2 engine kit I bought were the weak
ones had not had a problem with them working good until those two.
So I decided if I'm making lights I'd better find a solution to someone buying a light and
them having a weak coil and their light not working.
I'm not trying to make a system to charge a battery as that is one more thing that is a pain to mess with on a motorized bicycle.
I might be able to work out a way where I'll just need to modify the mag coil and not strip it completely and rewind all the wire. but with the bare coils I have I can try different combination's
so I'll know better what will and will not work.
I now know of about 101 ways it won't work. LOL!!
Norman

[GearNut]

I thankyou for your input on the winder, and thankyou again for your efforts in this lighting coil endavor.

[Norman]

A little bit more I found out today. Over 500 ohms on the blue wire and with 2.2 ohms on the white wire
is not good for lights didn't burn it out,just makes the light very dim?
So it looks like for now 2.0 to 2.10 is good for the white wire maybe 1.9 to 2.2 is good.
Now to find the best for the 36 gage usually less than 310 ohms the engine won't idle reliably more than 500 ohms the light goes real dim, the engine will idle as slow as you want it to.

Another thing with the coil cold you get a lower reading as the coil heats( running it on the bike) up the ohms reading goes up.
And one more with the same amount of wire the ohms reading will change( resistance goes up) with the 36 gage just from winding it on, off, and back on?

[Norman]

going to try a different size wire for the white wire coil going to go to 26 gage and see what
that will do? I'll still try to get the 2.0 to 2.2 ohms reading on it.

[hot rodder]

norman have you tried a bridge rectifier to convert to dc and use a storage capacitor to run your lights