1929 Serpentine Coil Winding Jig

[@richardglickman7203]

I’ve been looking through your Tinkercad projects and thought of a very simple enhancement. Add the video number to the title of each project. It would make it easier to both work on a project and review the video.

[@m4ddav3]

And annotating the parts would make things easier too, like a parts list.. Some models require different hardware, part counts, etc

[@TheNebulon]

We should start a secondary project to archive and annotate Robert's work

[@8ank3r]

Finally after watching this 10 times or so, I finally understood it. Hope to see you back on the platform soon because with you gone the rest of us just get dumber and dumber. Save us from ourselves Rob ;) cheers

[@kreynolds1123]

The general point Robert makes is a serpentine coil helps maximize the ratio of (generating length of wire segments) / (non generating copper overhang wire segments) compared to circular coils. If you want to further maximize the ratio, one might design one's rotor and stator with a given diameter to have more length in the dimention shared with the axle.

[@JessWLStuart]

Always a joy to learn from Robert Murray-Smith!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@markjennings8479]

As I'm about to try my first serpentine coil rather than the more conventional wrapped coil, I focused on the 'how much' wire bit. The stator length makes sense but the twice the circumference does not. By my reckoning it is half the circumference at the bottom and half at the top - so just one circumference plus the stator lengths...plus a 'bit' to account for each wind needing to increase for previous winds. There's also a comment below which suggests increasing the stator length to maximise the ratio. Whilst true, a motors torque is proportional to rotor volume D^2.L (diameter squared multiplied by length). The bigger the radius the higher the 'tip' speed - the 'v' bit of BLVsin theta.

[@StingerSecSol]

Nice project. Just downloaded and sliced. It's the next project for my printer. Thank you for sharing this.

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

It's not 10% extra 'just in case', it's roughly that because it's not just a single strand. Each extra strand will be the pea under the princesses' mattress, with each new layer causing the next to take ever so slightly more wire to complete a single round. Add them all together and it get us where we need!

[@scotttovey]

Oh cool. That jig can easily be made with a 12" or 24" T-track I have laying around and I have a couple of old tape spools I can use to make pulleys, or I can simply use a couple of sewing machine bobbins for that purpose. Which reminds me, a bobbin winder will make a for a convenient small coil winder.

[@bethwilton8075]

I really enjoy your videos even though I don't currently have a way to make many of your projects. Your channel is like a breath of fresh air. Thank you Robert.

[@Dave_D.]

Can you go into the theory of designing a coil? Such as, what changing the gauge and/or # of turns will do? Is there is a way to figure out what you should use in the 1st place (at least as a starting point) if you know what voltage you want and the rpm it will spin? There has to be some math that can be used to help achieve the outcome you desire w/o having to wind random/different coils over and over and trying them.

[@michaelward402]

You have a number of considerations to make first. The power of the generator is determined by the Voltage and current which will determine the thickness of the wire. So if you wanted to create a 500Wh generator with a Low Voltage then the current would be higher than if you generated a high Voltage with a low current for the same power. The current would determine the thickness of the wire used a higher Voltage with a low current would give you thinner wire. Flux density is determined by the amount of copper in the magnetic field, so the number of windings is limited by the width of the section holding the wire and the width of the magnetic field.

[@michaelhansen6977]

Thank you Peter, huge help.

[@jimstegman7396]

It seems to me that someone could come up with a modified 3D printer that does the winding directly on the stator. You would need to add a fixture that holds the stator and rotates it after each pass.

[@lightcapmath2777]

The photo of the area where "magic" happens..lol made it very clear now to me why such is favorable. Thank you RMS DVD:)

[@manminusblood]

You never cease to amaze me. You’re a great teacher and an even better man.

[@davidyates6151]

The exiting wires(terminals), Do they begin and end in the same place or at opposite ends of the coil? or doe's it not matter?

[@JesseCotto]

You are a Blessing. Thank You!

[@Saljen]

Suggestion for this device: If you made it so the half circles could rotate together and put a handle on the rear side, you could attach the wire then just rotate the whole mechanism with the handle to feed it wire instead of manually wrapping it around 200 times.

[@garymorin4813]

with the aid of a power drill, 10mins becomes 10 secs and/or a lot of mess :)

[@Wistowtbone]

Energy Storage - has anyone considered clockwork storage of energy with enormous springs?

[@ClownWhisper]

Hello Robert I know we talked about this in email but I thought it might be helpful for your viewers to bring up here. Would there be any advantage at all to taking a piece of string and making one turn on coil holder of the final project rap it a little tiny tiny bit loose and then using that dimension to set the jig distance. I mean one could always do the calculation and match it against the string to see if they agree. I know I'm terrible at overcomplicating LOL

[@Buzzhumma]

Nice jig Peter ! 👍🏻I just can't wait to make a serpentine coil . I am going to use the copper wire that's already wound out of a back of a tv . I will just do my equations in reverse to work out how big to make my stator housing

[@ianpottinger5154]

Really practical! Been following along with some of your projects and trying a few too! What gauge wire are you using for this? Thanks a lot!

[@Lisaselby001]

GUYS,I REALLY NEED TO SPEAK TO THIS MAN,,,I HAVE AUTISM,,,I DREAM IN THE FUTURE,,,,I SEE HOW EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE

[@kbbacon]

Wrap a rope around your stator and then measure the rope.

[@jimdaly5077]

Hi could you make the jig spin.👍🐝🌞

[@yaka2490]

good idea i cant see why you couldnt just stick a bolt through the center hole in the jug and attach to an electric screwdriver and clamp that in a vice

[@EvrttGrn]

I was just thinking the same thing by possibly attaching a car's power window motor to it.

[@EastBayFlipper]

It would be so easy and put a foot control and done😊

[@manwithsomeplans]

You could you would need a spool holder, a guide, a drill attachment through the centre and a way to keep tension on the spool of copper wire

[@hendrikjbboss9973]

​​@@EastBayFlipperr a battery driven screwdriver. 😊 A battery driven drill turns to fast unless you have it perfectly lined up.

[@grantdeisig1360]

How do you know what gauge wire to use?

[@kilokilos]

Good one Rob, still what happens if you put hundreds of short single wires around the armature where they all terminate into a metal disk on either side. Then put magnets on the stator with all the poles in the same direction. It will be like pulling the wire through a magnetic field at right angles only there will be hundreds of them. Simulating the single wire being pulled through an endless magnet. As per your description in the beginning?

[@brotherpaul963]

Id like to see your idea can you post a drawing or a ptype photo?

[@brandonlaird6876]

If I understand correctly, there's a problem. The magnet-wire interaction is based on the **change** (flux) of the magnetic field, not the presence itself. By having the same magnetic poles going around, as one magnetic north reaches the edge of its pull (let's say 10% strength) the next north would be starting its pull (10%), but that polarity/strength is close enough that you'd actually lose some there by not getting to 0%, and get much less if there's less change (100%-10%=90%). Plus, the sections at 100% would be at a different voltage than sections at 10%, resulting in further losses. However, if you did N/S magnets like normal and had 4 alternating "claws" that attached to every other top/bottom "group" (section of multiple wires) of (magnet size +a little bit)cm I think that would work how you're thinking. Also you would need a 4-phase rectifier (2 for group A [top odds, bottom odds], 2 for group B [top evens, bottom evens]) I hope I'm explaining that right. I'd draw a picture but my mspaint skills aren't up to the task (I've been trying for 20 minutes lol).

[@kilokilos]

@@brandonlaird6876 Hi, the right hand rule applies. The wires move at a 90' angle to the flux, so each wire will generate a voltage and a current. The voltage will be quite low but the current will multiply producing a low voltage but high current DC . I am sure a clever man like Tesla would have tried this but I find no reference to such a system. Maybe a blocking diode at the one end to stop the current from moving back into another wire? Tesla did not have those.

[@shanealexander9952]

Just for fun, make sure the magnet(s) cover(s) the u turns radius on both sides. Should act as a diode and should be an increase of a large amount. Otherwise...The the power goes out on both sides of the flat spart as it gets pushed. Sure you get quite a bit but I'm thinking it would be about 20 to 40% increase to stop electricity from going backwards. It's been on my mind for a while working it out. Analogy? Lay out a garden hose full of water on a driveway in a serpentine shape. Drive right down the middle. Water will go out both ends. But if you had enough tire to cover the radius also, it would only go one way. Right? Or it might explode I don't know

[@colleenforrest7936]

I'm going to print this in a couple of different sizes. One for the small turbines😊. Maybe a supersized one later. Still trying to figure out a 3 phased power winding for serpentines.

[@Shadowmanbluesbluesman]

If you can spin that jig and put a magnetic counter unit on it, you could motorize the winding process

[@TheDiegoloop]

Is there a video that shows the connection of the coils to another wire and eventually to a multimeter/voltage reader or an LED light for testing? Alligator clips/solder?

[@speciousexchange4283]

Awesome learning to length ratio ;). I'd love to see you investigate the opportunity to create 3d printed 'molds' that you could pour liquid metal or other conductive material into to make new coil designs not previously possible.

[@JessAnalysisTV]

Watching from Philippines.

[@YoureNowOnTV]

To measure the length of the coil wire needed, use a piece of string, wrap it around the stator. Remove mark with tape or a permanent marker where you meet the end of the string. Now you know the length of the coil needed per wind. The coil winder would be better with a long slot rather than holes. Slots would give you an infinitely variable length, holes are a finite number of lengths.

[@kadmow]

- and if someone happened to have a rope - of the (approximate) diameter the final coil will be - one may even eliminate the fudge factor..

[@martinwashington3152]

Really amazing to see, thanks very much for creating the video :D

[@cache4pat]

Awesome jig. I am going to give this a go. What is the gauge of wire that you are using ?? It looks about 26 gauge (0.4mm)

[@AwkRad]

What gauge wire are you typically using?

[@mookiemorjax]

In a previous video, he mentioned 38 gauge wire (to maximize voltage via number of wraps)

[@WillJones-n8t]

How many turns did you do in the end?

[@alycapo3391]

just to be clear the gap in-between each winding semi circle of the jig is 38CM for your use case?

[@ToninFightsEntropy]

Pausing 1 min 30 in to ask: What about a very very slightly progressive coil around a simple torus, jam packed with heaps of windings out from a hoop made of a thick insulated wire or something?

[@ToninFightsEntropy]

To wind it I was modelling a whole rig, but couldn't find my bearings, then pulled 3 castor wheels out of a box. Think I might be able to simplify this.

[@dallasr31skyline]

Could it be faster to put a bolt in the middle and put it on a drill to wind the wire?

[@mccormas69]

Hi Rob, dumb question, but why is the length of coil including 2 x the circumference of the circle? Because the coil loops back and forth, arent you essentially skipping every 2nd one, which means you would only need 1 x the circumference? Maybe I am missing something though.....

[@andyspoo2]

It would be very helpful if you could let us know what gauge of wire you use for each specific project when talking about a new project. "Wind some wire" seems a bit vague! The number of turns of wire would also help. I presume that thinner wire = more turns and more voltage at the output but could burn out (go open circuit) if the ampage is higher than the rating of the wire, but I'm only guessing. Is that the case??

[@timbrooks2763]

Coil the pvc tape on like a loom, in one piece :) looks much nicer, great video, reminds me of being back at collage 👨‍🎓

[@PhilR0gers]

I have been looking at DIY wind turbines for some time (mainly VAWTs, but that's not important). One thing I have noticed is that in many designs I've seen, the generator is 3 phase - made with 3 separate sets of coils, but yours are not. Is 3-phase better, or is there no difference? Do things like that affect the turbine's ability to self-start in low wind, and it's stall speed, or is that just a function of the magnetic field strength? I've never seen a really good explanation for these things, so could you enlighten us, Robert?

[@roastedright]

I see what your doing , either you going to spin the magnets around the multi stack core or the core is going to spin. Nice

[@tinkeringwithmark1186]

So, you could put a serpentine coil around a smartdrive motor to rewire it?

[@lightcapmath2777]

O! thank you too Peter DVD:)

[@lightcapmath2777]

Would like to see a simple demo on winding thinner wire vs. thicker. same # of winds. Showing the basic difference to "open minds of interest" can and is a positive lecture. DVD:)

[@joshuafoster8976]

Is that 3 coils on the same rotor or hes made 3 for 3 separate generators??

[@brendanpattermann2927]

is there a way to use serpentine coils and get 3 phases?

[@TotoMacFrame]

Might seem like a silly question, but given that I only go to the side on one top and one bottom again and again, why do I need the circumference times two? Don't they just add up to one circumference?

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

I wonder if it'd be possible to make a guitar pickup with serpentine windings instead of the regular method.

[@kadmow]

?? If the windings are all connected in series - then it should be simple to do, if they are parallelled to keep the string channels separate (that "could" be done) , then... a quick look around the web - Highline guitars on YT has vids on this - his coil is "just" a straight coil around the perimeter.. (as with the original patents by George Beauchamp.) - a controlled wind appears to be extremely important. ?? who knew)

[@snooter28]

Can you use a serpentine coil on an axial flux style?

[@davegeorge7094]

I think the hairpin design Tesla uses is a bit better. It's pinch welded and enameled for insulation. Less unfluxed wire.

[@bacilluscereus1299]

Hi, Did you ever cover nickel-iron batteries on this channel? Thanks.

[@hermanlaubsher7556]

How to make a solar panel 🙏🙏

[@tlc12070]

Could you possibly make this from your filament spool?

[@D3Dm-ef1]

Thank you!!!!!

[@st33ldi9ital]

Love it!

[@justtinkering6713]

It's easier to bend one wire than a bundle. Be nice to make a winder/weaver that follows the shape of the finished stator coil. Thinkntinker

[@matthewdesilets4069]

I actually made my own version of this a few months back. I made mine so that it sits on a rod in the dead middle with a handle and passes through a skate bearing on a pole so that it can be hand cranked. It made it super easy and fast to use.

[@Iamsuccesspro]

Instead of figuring your length, you can use a piece of string

[@senorjp21]

New camera? New lighting? Looks much nicer

[@MrRasarrasar]

Why not use a piece of string wrapped around the stator to find the length + 10%

[@justinw1765]

4:49 That's what she said...

[@normanpaterson]

Bravo

[@DanielSMatthews]

Was expecting a sensuous dancing lesson, got electrical engineering instead.

[@zfolwick]

Put it in a drill!!! Maybe add a counter so you know how many turns it is.

[@tamaseduard5145]

👍🙏

[@mikaelfransson3658]

How many revolutions of copper in a snake-coil is easy to now for a person from UK! in the logics of Douglas Adams 56 turns! For we others a You-Tubers sat down an look after the best results and get 54 turns! I have forget the men how found this! But i got 56 in my thought easy for us how plan to travel light in universa places 🥸Mikael

[@dgprop]

how do you work out what thickness of wire to use?