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The first thing to do is to read the articles on this website about
Magnabend
- Fundamental Design Considerations and
Magnabend
Circuit Operation.
The
information given here is of a general nature only. The constructor
will
need to work out details, such as where the screws go etc, themselves.
Update:
A complete set of dimensioned drawings have now been added for a small
machine.
See here:
https://aaybee.au/Magnabend/Magnabend_Handyman_Model.html
I will assume that you have a fairly good workshop otherwise it is
doubtful whether this project should be attempted.
Next
decide what type of magnet cross section that you would like to build.
Unless you have very good milling facilities then I
suggest that you go for a
U-type
magnet body. Although this
design is not quite as efficient as an E-type body it is quite a bit
easier to build and in fact can be built without any milling,
especially if you can obtain cold rolled steel sections. (Cold rolled
steel has a nice accurate finish and no mill-scale on the surface).
(If you want to build an
E-Type magnet then there is an example model at the end of
this page).
The above
drawing shows the basic arrangement of components in a U-type Magnabend.
Next
you need to decide what thickness of sheetmetal you would like to be
able to bend.
I
will suggest a design which will be able to bend 1.2mm (18 gauge) mild
steel or aluminium. ( If you need more capacity than this then you will
have to use thicker sections than those suggested below).
I
will also assume that a fairly limited duty cycle will be ok for hobby
use. This will allow a more compact magnet design with a bit
less
steel and a bit less copper wire.
Suggested
Hobby
Magnabend cross section:
Note:
All dimensions are in millimetres
- Note: The beveled edge
of the clampbar is not essential but the machine will be more versatile
if this can be provided.
The
Cover Strip over the coil must be a non-magnetic material otherwise it
will short-out part of the magnetic flux and thus cause loss of quite a
bit of clamping force. It is suggested that the cover strip be
aluminium.
In
commercial Magnabends the cover strip is supported on small rebates
milled into the poles on either side. However to avoid the need for
milling, the cover strip could be supported on a layer of polyester
resin (body-filler) between it and the coil. (Clamp
it flush with the surface until
the resin sets).
Nearest imperial
dimensions can be substituted if desired eg 3/4" instead of 20mm, 2"
instead of 50mm etc.
- For best performance the
Core Piece should be the
same length as the pole pieces as shown in the perspective
drawing above.
Although
it is tempting, and certainly possible, to make the core piece shorter
than the poles and thereby accommodate the whole coil within the magnet
body, it will result in a very significant fall off in clamping force
near the ends of the machine. (This effect is somewhat worse than might
be expected).
- The
magnet body can be held together by several bolts, say M8 x 50 long,
SHCS passing thru the rear pole and core piece and tapped into the
front pole. (The length of 50mm assumes that the bolts will be
counter-bored so that their heads are flush with back surface making
their overall length 58mm). These bolts should have generous
clearance holes in the rear pole and in the core piece. This
will
facilitate getting the surface of the machine flat: The
assembly can be placed upside down on a
flat surface before final
tightening of the bolts.
- No bending beam is
shown in the cross section above. The required dimensions for
the
bending beam depend markedly on the length between its pivot supports.
Commercial Magnabends use an innovative hinge mechanism which
is
not restricted to being placed at the ends of the beam and hence the
distance between pivot supports is always small, even on a long machine.
These
special hinges are really a bit too difficult to make for a hobby
machine and thus it is suggested that more conventional hinges are used
and the length of the machine be kept relatively short. If
the
length is no more than say 650mm then a bending beam made from the same
section as the front pole (and pivoted at the ends), should be OK.
The
Coil:
I
suggest a coil with 3,800
ampere-turns.
The best way to think about the design of this is
to choose
a wire gauge that would result in a current of 3,800 amps thru 1 turn
(when supplied with the intended voltage). Then if you have 2
turns the current will be (3,800/2) that is 1900 amps, and
100
turns would reduce the current to 38 amps and so on, but the
ampere-turns will still be 3,800. Thus, once the gauge has been chosen,
and the length of the coil is known, then the ampere-turns has already
been determined.
Using Ohms Law: V = IR, or R = V/I so:
Resistance per turn = (supply voltage/3,800) ohms per turn.
Now,
assuming that the supply voltage will be AC then the effective value of
the rectified voltage is a bit less than the RMS value:
Effective DC voltage of
full wave
rectified AC is :
Thus
for an AC supply of say 220
volts the effective DC voltage will be 220 x 0.9 = 200 volts (approx.),
So, resistance per turn =
(200/3,800) = 0.053
ohms. (This will apply to all
lengths of machines!)
Amazing,
you now know the essentials of designing a Magnabend coil !
It
remains to find a wire thickness which "fits the bill", that is a wire
which has a resistance of 0.053 ohms for 1 turn on our particular coil.
Actually we
need to
find the
average length of a turn:
For
a core length of say 650mm and a coil depth of 19mm
(as
shown in the cross section above) then from straight forward geometry
we find that the length of an average turn will be : (650 x 2) + (44 x
Pi) = 1440 mm.
So we need a wire that has a resistance of 0.053 ohms per 1440 mm, that
is a resistance of (0.053/1.440) ohms per metre,
that is = 0.0368 ohms
per metre, or 36.8 ohms per Km.
From
here you could calculate the actual diameter of the copper wire but you
would need to know the conductivity of copper, which is not hard to
find, but in practice what
you now do is just lookup a table of information for various diameters
of wire.
(It has all
been calculated before).
Gauge
AWG |
Wire
Diameter
mm |
Turns
of
wire
per cm |
Cross
section
mm2 |
Copper
resistance
ohms/Km |
15 |
1.45 |
6.9 |
1.65 |
10.5 |
16 |
1.29 |
7.7 |
1.31 |
13.2 |
17 |
1.15 |
8.7 |
1.04 |
16.6 |
18 |
1.024 |
9.77 |
0.823 |
21.0 |
19 |
0.912 |
11 |
0.653 |
26.4 |
20 |
0.812 |
12.3 |
0.518 |
33.3 |
21 |
0.723 |
13.8 |
0.41 |
42.0 |
22 |
0.644 |
15.5 |
0.326 |
53.0 |
23 |
0.573 |
17.4 |
0.258 |
66.8 |
24 |
0.511 |
19.6 |
0.205 |
84.2 |
The
nearest
wire size available in the table is 20 AWG so choose this one.
Now it is well worth noting that the cross-sectional area of 23 AWG is
almost
exactly half of the cross-sectional area of 20
AWG so that 2 strands of 23 gauge will give exactly the same
effect (and occupy the same overall area) as 1 strand of 20 gauge.
That
means you can use either size, but if you use 23 gauge you will need to
join the strands together at the start (and at the end) and then wind
with 2 strands in
hand. This is called bi-filar
winding.
In fact you can use any combination of wire sizes that you
like
provided they add up to the correct cross-sectional area (0.518 mm2).
If you follow the above procedure for a 110 volt AC supply
then you will find that the size of wire needed will be 17 AWG (or a
bi-filar winding using 20 AWG).
We
now know what size wire to use and this is the most important parameter
of coil design. But we now have to actually make the coil.
How
Many Turns?
The
calculation below assumes that you know the area of the winding space,
and you do know this if you are following my suggested cross section
above. However if you were starting from scratch you would perhaps have
to wind a test coil first and then measure how hot it gets when run at
the desired duty cycle in the intended magnet body. If it
gets
too hot then that means that you need more turns and hence a larger
winding space.
Anyway, the number of turns will just be whatever will fit
in the space
available. This can be calculated from the known
packing fraction.
For
a jumble-wound coil with electrical paper all around it, the effective
packing fraction is around
55%.
This means that the space available
will be 55% occupied by copper.
So, number of turns = 0.55 x (area of winding space)/ (area of 1 strand
of wire). =[0.55 x 24 x 19)/0.518] =
484 turns.
Resistance
of the Coil:
The
resistance can be easily calculated by multiplying the number of turns
by the resistance per turn (which was calculated above).
Thus resistance = 484 x 0.053 ohms =
25.6 ohms
(Note that this will be the resistance at room temperature, 20C. At
higher temperatures the resistance will be higher).
Current:
The
current will just be the effective DC coil voltage (0.9 x AC RMS
voltage) divided by the resistance calculated above:
Current
= 220 x 0.9 ÷ 25.6 =
7.7
amps.
Type
of Winding Wire to Use:
Normal
magnet winding wire is copper wire coated with a polyester
enamel, eg "PEI". However, for the Magnabend coil, it is
highly desirable to obtain "
self-bonding
wire".
This wire has an extra coat of a thermo setting material
which,
under heat, will melt and then cure thus binding all the windings in
the coil together. If this wire cannot be obtained then it
will
be necessary to apply some other form of bonding agent (eg varnish)
during the winding of the coil. (It is important that the
windings are glued together otherwise the wires will vibrate and
eventually wear themselves out).
The
Coil Former:
It
is usual to make a former into which to wind the coil. The
coil
is later taken out of the former and put into the magnet.
Make up a former looking something like this:
Hold
the assembly together with several thru-bolts.
Make a hole in the centre thru which an axle can be inserted.
Line the winding space with electrical
paper.
This paper is typically about 0.3mm thick and its function is
to
insulate the coil from the metal poles of the magnet. (It is not safe
to rely on the enamel insulation on the wire itself for this purpose).
Score the paper to make it fold in the right places.
You will probably need to temporarily tape the paper to the former to
keep it out of the way during winding.
The dimensions of the coil former should be such that the coil which it
forms will have clearance
when it is installed in the magnet body.
The
core piece of the former could be the same piece that will be used in
the actual magnet. This will save the need to remove the coil from the
core and then re-fit it to another core piece.
Also, have a look at notes about the coil under E-type
magnet below.
Here is a
comparison of electrical papers that you could use:
ELECTRICAL
PAPERS:
|
For example:
Nomex 410 Insulation Paper - 0.25mm thick x
914mm wide
Approx $35 per metre from www.swiftsupplies.com.au. |
Description |
Thickness |
Tear Resistance |
Puncture
Resistance (Crossed Wire Test) |
Moisture Immunity |
Continuous
Temperature Rating |
Intermittent
Temperature Rating |
Hyply 10 + 3 |
0.31
mm |
Good |
Good |
Moderate |
|
|
Presspahn |
0.38
mm |
Moderate |
Very
Good |
Poor |
130
°C |
210
°C |
DMD |
0.28
mm |
Very
Good |
Moderate |
Very
Good |
155
°C |
235
°C |
DMD |
0.40
mm |
Very
Good |
Moderate |
Very
Good |
155
°C |
235
°C |
Nomex 410 |
0.25
mm |
Good |
Good |
Very
Good |
220
°C |
300
°C |
I would recommend Nomex
if you can obtain it easily, but any of those shown would be OK.
ALTERNATIVE INSULATION
FOR THE COIL:
Electrical paper might be difficult
to obtain in an apprpropriate form, for example a small roll.
In that case you could consider insulating the coil with
high temperature polyimide (Kapton) tape.
This can be
obtained from an electrical supplier such as RS Components or Element14
or even on eBay.
If using this method you would first form the coil (including the heat
bonding stage) and then remove it
from the former before wrapping it
with the Kapton tape.
Tape dimensions: 33m x 19mm x .07mm,
colour:
amber,
Temperature: up to 270 C
(Eg. RS Components number 468-403).
Layer
Winding versus Jumble Winding:
Layer
winding is where the coil is wound in neat layers, usually with
electrical paper between the layers. This method makes for a
high
quality coil but it is tedious and it is not really necessary for the
Magnabend coil. The alternative to layer winding is "jumble winding"
where the wires
wind in in a fairly random fashion. It is however worth
building
up the coil in an even way. In particular you can avoid
too much voltage difference between adjacent windings by making
sure that outer windings do not come into contact with inner
windings.
(This will make it less likely to get insulation breakdown within the
coil).
Dispensing
of the Winding Wire and Wire Tension:
Winding
wire is normally supplied on a plastic spool. When dispensing
the
wire do not try to rotate the spool, rather just sit it
vertically on the floor (or in an old drum is better) and withdraw the
wire axially,
preferably thru
some kind of tensioning device mounted vertically above the spool. This
could just be a welding clamp fastened to something (eg a
table,
a bench etc ) with felt wrapped around the jaws to provide some
friction, and therefore tension to the wire. (Don't use anything that
would scratch the varnish insulation on the wire).
Terminating
the Coil:
It is best to provide the coil with flexible lead wires which are
joined to the winding wire inside
the coil.
Since part of the lead wire will be inside the coil then it is best to
use wire with teflon (or other high temperature) insulation.
Make the termination by soldering the flexible wire to the winding wire
and then insulating the joint with heatshrink sleeving.
Use say a black wire at the start (inside) of the coil and a red wire
for the end (outside) of the coil.
You will need to thoroughly scrape off the enamel coating from the
winding wire before attempting to solder it.
The terminating wires will be brought out through a pair of holes in
one of the cheek plates.
Actual
Winding of the Coil:
For
a one-off coil it is not worth setting up an electric drive to turn the
coil former. Just mount it on an axle and turn it by hand; it does not
take all that long to put in the required number of turns (484, or even
less if you are making a longer coil). (If you do want to set
up
an electric drive make it rotate the assembly fairly slowly, say about
50 RPM and control it with a foot-switch). The number of
turns
does not have to be precise. If you don't have an easy way of
counting the turns (or if you loose count) then just monitor
the
total resistance. When it reaches about 25 ohms you
can
stop winding.
Clamping
the Coil to Size:
Because of the long nature of the Magnabend coil the
strands of wire between the ends remain quite loose unless they are
clamped up prior to curing the coil. You need to make up some ?sizing
pieces? as shown below. These can be made out of wood or some other
suitable material. (We used aluminium extrusion sections for production
coils).
It is best to have a short pair of pieces for the
ends as well.
You will need to calculate the dimensions
of the rebates in the sizing pieces such that when the
coil gets clamped up it will be the correct size to fit in your magnet
body.
After the coil has been wound and the terminating
wires have been soldered on and brought out thru holes in the coil
former cheek plate, fold the edges of the electrical papers in and
install the sizing pieces. Apply 3 or 4 G-clamps to hold the sizing
pieces in place and screw up the G-clamps until the sizing pieces are
seated on their rebates all the way along.
Coil Curing:
Assuming
that you have used self-bonding wire then curing involves heating the
wire up to a temperature recommended by the manufacturer.
Typically this will be something like 190 degrees C. The
easiest
way to do this is to connect the coil to a voltage source, via a
rectifier,
and let it self-heat. The temperature within the coil will be
more uniform if the heating happens quickly, so it is preferable to use
a higher than normal voltage for this. But even the standard
supply voltage will still get the coil hot enough because it was
designed for only
25%
duty
cycle so 100% duty will eventually get it pretty hot, especially when
the coil is not installed in a steel magnet body.
Now,
how do you know when it is hot enough? Well fortunately the
wire
has a kind of built-in temperature gauge - its resistance increases
with temperature in a very predictable way, so all you have to do is to
monitor the current and when it has fallen to a certain value then the
coil will be hot enough. At 190 C the current will have
fallen to 60% of its
starting value (room temperature value).
If you can't measure the current
then instead you could disconnect the coil and measure its resistance
at intervals. When the resistance has increased to 1.7 times the
initial value then it will be hot enough).
(The
value of 60% mentioned above may have to modified if the wire
manufacturer has recommended a curing temperature much different
to 190 C).
Mathematically the variation of resistance with temperature is
expressed by:
(Where alpha is the coefficient of resistance, which for copper is
0.004/degree C)
You can easily substitute values into this formula.
Note that T must be expressed in degrees C or K, but not
degrees F.
After winding,
compressing to size, curing and removing from the former, Magnabend
coils will look something like this:
Check your Coil Design here:
Coil Calculation
Program (added August 2020)
Electrical Circuit for a Hobby Magnabend:
For simplicity you could consider using the minimal circuit:
But practically you should go for a circuit with at least a
2-handed interlock and a light clamping phase such as shown below:
Components
Needed for 2-Handed Interlock Circuit:
BRIDGE
RECTIFIER:
The
bridge rectifier converts the AC mains into DC for the magnet coil. The
rectifier needs to have a current rating equal to or greater than the
magnet coil current and a reverse voltage rating equal to or greater
than the peak mains voltage. However, for improved
reliability
it is best to choose a rectifier which exceeds the minimum
requirements by a generous margin.
A
suitable rectifier
would be:
RS Components part number: 227-8794
Max current: 35 amps continuous,
Max reverse voltage: 1000 Volts,
Terminals: 1/4" quick-connect or 'Faston'
Approx price: $14
DIODES:
If you are building a more advanced circuit then you will require
several diodes. These can all be 1N5408.
Suitable diodes would be:
RS Components part number: 628-9473
Max current: 3 amps continuous,
Max reverse voltage: 1,000 Volts.
Approx price: $0.60
($6.00 per pack of 10).
VARISTOR:
As
the bridge rectifier is 'exposed' to the AC mains then it is
susceptible to damage from voltage spikes. (Spikes are
momentary
large increases in voltage which sometimes occur on the mains which
relate to sudden events such as truck running into a power pole, a
lightning strike etc). To guard against this possibility it
is
good idea to fit a MOV ('varistor')
across the ac terminals of the rectifier. The varistor should have a
clamping voltage higher
than the normal peak mains voltage but lower
than the
voltage rating of the rectifier.
A
suitable
varistor
would be:
Metal Oxide Varistor 500pF,
RS part number 800-7059
Clamps at: 650 volts,
Clamping current: 50 amps,
Energy absorption: up to 72 joules,
Diameter: 17mm,
Approx price: $1.00.
THERMAL SWITCH:
As the Magnabend design is rated for only
intermittent
operation then the coil could be overheated if somehow the machine was
to be left continuously ON by accident. To guard
against
this happening it is advisable to fit a bi-metallic switch to sense the
temperature of the magnet body and to cut the current off it it gets
too hot.
A suitable switch is:
Snap-acting bi-metallic switch,
RS Components part number 339-308
Rated at 240V ac, 10 amps.
Switch goes open circuit above 70°C, auto-resets to closed below 55°C
Terminals: 1/4" quick-connect.
Approx price: $15
This switch should be mounted (by 2 screws) somewhere to the base of
the magnet body.
MICROSWITCH:
The
ON/OFF switch can be any switch with suitable ratings.
However if
you want to couple this switch to the motion of the bending beam, ie to
turn ON when the beam starts to move up, then you will probably want to
use a V3
microswitch. These switches have over-center
snap-acting contacts and are highly suitable for this kind of
application.
A suitable
V3 switch would be:
RS part number: 472-8235
Current rating: 16 amps
Voltage rating: 250 Volts AC
Lever type: long
Operating force: 0.91 Newton,
Terminals: 1/4" quick-connect
Approx price: $5.00
RELAY:
If
you automate the turn-on with a V3 switch, as above, then it is
strongly advised that you also incorporate the additional circuitry
required to give a 2-handed interlock (otherwise it is all too easy to
accidentally turn the magnet on and possibly cause an accident).
It is possible to do a 2-handed interlock circuit without the need for a relay
but it would require that a button (the Start button) be held in
continuously whilst doing a bend. It is much more convenient if the
Start button only has to be pressed to initiate the interlock and in
that case a relay
will be required.
A suitable
relay would be:
RS part number: 450-0380
Switching capacity: 10 amp, 240 volt ac,
Coil: 240 volt ac,
Contact arrangement: DPDT,
Approx price: $10.00
The
relay shown here has 2 poles. This provides for the possibility that
you may also want to implement a demagnetising circuit as well, but if
not then the second pole can be ignored or you can choose a single pole
relay which would be slightly cheaper.
LIGHT-CLAMPING
CAPACITOR:
To achieve a 2-handed
interlock circuit with a pre-clamping phase you will need a capacitor
rated for continuous operation on the AC mains. The best type
to
use are ones designed for power factor correction (eg in fluorescent
lights)., and these may be referred to as 'lighting capacitors'.
|
A suitable
capacitor :
RS Components part number: 451-5411
Capacitance:10 µF
Voltage rating: 250 VAC continuous,
Mounting: M8 stud,
Diameter: 35mm
Approx price:
$15.00 |
|
Alternative
capacitor:
RS Components part number: 123-5095
Capacitance: 10 µF
Voltage rating: 250 VAC continuous,
Dimensions: 41 x 40 x 20 mm
Approx price:
$9 |
Another
alternative is this "motor-run" capacitor.
This device has the advantage of quick connect terminals.
RS part number: 388-7967
Capacitance: 8 µF, Voltage rating: 450 VAC
continuous,
Mounting: M8 stud.
Diameter : 30mm , Height: 55mm.
Approx price:
$7.00
(May 2020).
Please also consult the section: Magnabend
Circuit Operation for other ideas and more advanced circuits.
The
E-Type magnet cross section achieves a higher clamping force from a
given weight of steel and copper wire. If you have good
milling
facilities at your disposal then this is the design to go for.
This
design assumes that the magnet body will be machined from a
hot-rolled
steel blank 100 x 50 mm. The dimensions allow for machining the blank
on all sides to clean up the mill scale and remove a minor amount of
lack of straightness. If you are making a long
magnet
then
it is quite likely that some pre-straightening will be required prior
to machining. (See below).
If
the blank can be obtained as a
cold-rolled section then clean-up machining may not be
required and hence the above
outer dimensions could be increased to match the size of the blank.
Length:
You
can make the length pretty much anything you like. This same
section has been used for Magnabends up to 3.2 meters long.
However, you should note the relative
dimensions
between the coil and the magnet body. For instance the coil
is longer
than the steel 'island' that it has to fit over but it is narrower than
the
channels that it has to fit into. It needs to have clearance
-
it would be very disappointing to have gone to the trouble of making a
nice coil only to find that it will not fit into the space available in
the magnet body!
Note that you will only get full clamping force to within about 50mm of
each end. This is because the flux concentration near the ends gets
considerably reduced by fringing into the (longer) outer poles. This
has a more severe effect than might be expected.
Material:
A
medium carbon steel, say K1045, is a good choice however if you cannot
obtain this then CS1020 would be OK or just mild steel is also OK but
it will damage a bit more easily and does not machine quite as well as
the higher carbon steels.
Construction:
Machining
from a solid steel blank will produce the best result both physically
and magnetically. However it is also possible to
produce
the E-Type body by fabrication.
For details on a fabricated construction please follow this link:
http://aaybee.com.au/Magnabend/Handyman_Pages/Magnet-Body.html
Straightening:
"As-supplied" hot-rolled steel blanks are hardly ever straight
enough to be machined without some prior straightening. This
particularly applies to longer lengths.
If a bent piece of steel is pressed until it is straight it
will retain some internal stress and that stress may
cause it
to creep over time and relax back into a slightly bent condition
again .
To overcome this behaviour a
stabilised
straightening technique can be used.
This is described below.
The general principle of stabilised bending is to “ring” the
bend. That means to successively bend the material to and fro
but
with each bend progressively reduced in amplitude until no further
yielding results.
"Ringing"
is the term often applied to a
decaying oscillation such as shown on the left.
When applied to bending this technique will leave the material in the
vicinity of
the bend in a stress-free condition. The material will then
be
stable and not subject to creep.
In principle the method is a substitute for stress relieving by heating
although for complete stress relief the bar to be straightened would
need to be worked on from end to end.
Typically 3 oscillations of the bend will produce sufficient stability
for our purposes.
PROCEDURE:
- Locate the worst hump or hollow in the
workpiece by using a straight-edge.
- Using a workshop press of sufficient
capacity (20
tons is sufficient for Magnabend sections) press the hump with
sufficient pressure to cause it to be
slightly bent the other way (i.e. over compensated). Check with a
straight edge and if necessary, press again with a slightly increased
force until over-compensation is achieved.
- Turn the workpiece over and press the
other way to half the initial force.
- Turn the workpiece back to the
original orientation and press to quarter the initial force.
- Check the overall straightness and if
it is not straight enough, repeat from step 1.
Maximum deviation from the straight-edge should be
within specifications. (Magnetic Engineering specification was
0.2mm max.)
While testing with the straight-edge on top, the workpiece should be
supported near the ¼ and ¾ points to minimise the effects of
sag.
This is particularly important for on-flat testing.
NOTE:
In a production situation a table of pressing forces should be
established to show the forces required to yield different
workpieces (clamp bars, magnet bodies, bending beams, etc) and
according to workpiece support spacings etc.
Mechanics:
It is a good idea to drill and tap the magnet body for the various
fasteners required before
installing the coil. That way you minimise the danger of drilling into
the coil which would probably effectively destroy it. You need to think
about fasteners for the hinges,
an electrical
enclosure, back-stop
bars (if required), a utility
tray,
some kind of stand
etc.
The
Coil:
The
coil will be made much the same way as for the U-type body as described
above except that the terminating wires need to come out on the bottom
face of the coil and would then pass thru a hole in the base of the
body to join up with the electrical circuit.
Before
installing the coil make absolutely sure that there are no sharp burrs
or swarf that might puncture thru the coil insulation. Pay
particular attention to ends of the central pole; file the sharp edges
off and make everything clean. Provided the insulation
remains
sound then the coil should last pretty much forever. (You
want it
to last a long time because it is very difficult to replace later if it
does fail).
Protection
for the Coil:
Commercial
Magnabends protect the coil with aluminium strips (20 x 3 mm) which are
supported in small rebates milled into the poles. These are peened
after installation to produce a jamming fit and then the surface of the
magnet body is given a final light machining.
However
for a hobby Magnabend I am going to suggest another method
which involves less machining:
Just
fill up the space above (and at the end of) the coil with a polyester
resin such as body filler. A typical brand being K&H
(in
Australia) or Bondo (a popular brand in the US). This
material is
thixotropic, meaning that it will stay in place and does not run out
(like honey would). Also it has good heat resistance and is not
particularly expensive.
After
the resin has cured (about half an hour depending on the temperature
and the amount of catalyst added to the mix), it can be sanded nice and
flush with the steel surface using a belt sander.
Contact
Alan Magnabend
Homepage
Alan's Homepage
This page last updated 16 October 2020
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