Coil winding novice
Locked
 
|
I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice.
73 Nick G3RWF _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
Hi Nick,
Gud luck with your K2...winding the coils is tedious but not difficult (in my opinion. Get yourself a good maginfying glass and recount the turns after you are finished. Allow yourself an a bit more length then when you cut the wire, you can also trim it later, you'll have plenty of wire to spare. Building the rig yourself is a very satisfying process and this is part of it. If you are not happy with what you have done, you can always purchase the pre-wound coils later...but I think you'll be fine. One word of advice that I keep giving myself is that "this is a hobby" so have fun. Let us know what happens. Tom WB2QDG K2 1103 -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Nick Henwood" <[hidden email]> > I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never > having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than > give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. > Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. > 73 Nick G3RWF > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
Hi Nick,
I'm a beginner kit builder also, and just finished my first K2. I, too, was worried about the toroid windings. I went ahead and tried it, and it really isn't that bad. I found that Elecraft gives you more than enough wire, so err on the side of a longer wire than called for by an inch or two. I also highly recommend making sure the leads are well tinned before installing - this caused my no TX problem that took me a good few days to find. I found that even though I had continuity between the solder pads, it wasn't fully working. Pulling it out and reinstalling fixed the problem. Also, the number of passed *through* the toroid is the number of windings. That's sometimes a bit confusing. Good luck! Jeff On 2/9/07, Nick Henwood <[hidden email]> wrote: > I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. > 73 Nick G3RWF > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: Coil winding novice
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
On Friday 09 February 2007 13:07, Nick Henwood wrote:
> Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. Nick, I wound my own a year and a half ago. The diagrams in the manual are very clear in showing the direction of the windings. Follow them exactly as in the diagrams. If the wire exits from the top on the left and underneath on the right, make sure yours does. If it's inverted, turning the toroid over won't fix it - it's still wound incorrectly. I wound all my toroids in one evening while sitting with my wife watching the television, looking ahead in the manual to find them, labelling them with a piece of clear adhesive tape on the end of a lead. I really appreciated the continuity of building without having to wind a toroid when it was ready to be soldered in. Ian, G4ICV, AB2GR, K2 #4962, LP-100 #278 -- _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1 Nick, you have NOTHING to worry about. Coils are simple. Yes, they can be time consuming when you get something with a bunch of winds on it, but it is not hard at all. It just requires some concentration ("did I just put wind 29 or 30 on? Shoot! time to count again!"). The only thing you really need to watch when winding is that you don't get the wire under a previous turn. Again, this is not really a problem on up to about 15 turns, but going over that you have to look closer. Don't let anybody scare you into thinking coil winding is hard. I find it one of the most fun parts of kit building. On Feb 9, 2007, at 12:07 PM, Nick Henwood wrote: > I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil > winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to > wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks > straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome > encouragement or cautionary advice. > 73 Nick G3RWF > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com Randy Rathbun NV0U [hidden email] K2 #1981 KX1#1318 QRPARCI #10776, ARS #895, FPQRP #1292, KCQRP #1 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (Darwin) iD8DBQFFzMAI6zTmfegBFIERAk9bAKCPU+tYmZ5vQqM6F8D8YYbYII1slACgpsIK yddaOXdXwp6K0SIAe1vK1hc= =Bu49 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: Coil winding novice
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
Nothing ventured nothing gained Nick, give it a shot!!
73, Geoff GM4ESD ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Henwood" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 6:07 PM Subject: [Elecraft] Coil winding novice I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. 73 Nick G3RWF _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
The biggest thing is stripping and tinning the leads. I have a De-soldering
station that works very well to run the leads into the hole and strip with heat and solder. But you can carefully scrape the enamel off or use a very fine grit sandpaper to strip them and then tin them very well and look for the very thin coat of solder that tinning does. This is probably the most important part of the build. Always double check them before installing with an ohm meter to make sure you really have them tinned and there is no resistance. Once installed and soldered, carefully inspect the joints with a magnify lens to make sure you have a very nice clean joint, if the wire is sticking thru and isn't looking very soldered...it's not and may work now but will fail later. Once this is done, check it again with an ohm meter to make sure everything has continuity. Just a little patience and double checking and you'll be fine. Gregg, W9DHI ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Henwood" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 6:07 PM Subject: [Elecraft] Coil winding novice I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. 73 Nick G3RWF _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
Nick,
I do not understand why folks have a mental block about winding toroids - it is easy for folks with normal manual dexterity. A couple hints about winding - count each turn as it passes through the center of the core - a single wire through the center is 1 turn. For large lengths of wire, start in the middle of the wire, wind half the turns, flip it over and wind the remaining turns. You 'push' the wire through the center of the toroid when it exits most of the way, give it a small tug to form the wire on the inside of the core, then bend the wire around the outside of the core forming it against the core with a finger as you go around the outside (this is the step that makes the toroids look neat and tidy). Once you have formed the wire around the outside, it is time to start over on the next turn. Don't worry if you cannot make the first two turns look neat - when you have the correct number of turns, remove those first two if they look messy and wind two more on the other end. What is important is the correct number of turns and the turns spacing - space the turns to look as close to the manual diagrams as possible. Toroids will work fine even if their appearance is not the greatest. The most essential part about toroids is not in the winding, but in stripping and tinning the wire leads. Unless otherwise instructed, tin the leads right up to the core body. The wire used in the Elecraft kits is heat strippable, no mechanical stripping is required, and is discouraged because it often nicks the copper and the lead will eventually break. The solder-blob method described in the manual works great, just use a hot soldering iron (800 degrees is good) and use a tip wide enough to hold a reasonable blob of solder - use a 1/4 inch chisel tip if you have one, but 1/8 or 3/16 inch chisel tip will work if you add a little patience. Hold the wire in the solder blob until the enamel begins to blister and smoke, then slowly draw the wire through the solder to tin the entire lead. That is about all there is to it - a couple practice toroids may be needed, but after that you could be an 'old hand' and wonder what all the anxiety is about too. Winding toroids may not be 'fun' for everyone, but it is not difficult to do a good job. 73, Don W3FPR > -----Original Message----- > > I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil > winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is > to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all > looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome > encouragement or cautionary advice. > 73 Nick G3RWF > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.17.32/677 - Release Date: 2/8/2007 9:04 PM _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
Nick:
One problem I had winding coils was the first turn always was looser than the rest. So I would intentionally wind an additional turn and then remove the first turn. Just make sure you end up with the correct number of turns. Also, after the coil is wound, before I try to strip the insulation from the ends, I do a fit check and trim the wires so they are only perhaps 1/8" longer than need be. I then remove the coil and know exactly where I need to remove the insulation. If you don't do that, you will end up spending lots of time stripping insulation from parts of the wire you are going to trim off anyway. Once you think you've stripped off the insulation, do a resistance check before installing the coil. After you install it, other components in the circuit might lead you to believe all is well when it isn't. Good luck. If you are careful, you should have no problems. 73's, John AA0VE Nick Henwood wrote: > I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. > 73 Nick G3RWF > > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
|
|
In reply to this post by Nick G3RWF
Hello, Nick.
I say wind them yourself. I faced the same dilemma. The first one or two may seem awkward, but you will be more proud of your accomplishment when you hear the first signals. Pay attention to which way you start the winding. You can get that from the manual and the pictures. Good luck and watch the soldering. 73, Jim, K4ZMV ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Henwood" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 1:07 PM Subject: [Elecraft] Coil winding novice I am just starting on my K2 and feeling apprehensive about coil winding - never having wound a toroidal coil.My inclination is to wind them myself rather than give way and buy a set. It all looks straightforward in the instruction manual. Would welcome encouragement or cautionary advice. 73 Nick G3RWF _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
«
Return to Elecraft
|
1 view|%1 views
| Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |