coil gun coils...

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FishBoy
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Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:29 pm

Hey guys, quick question. I'm making a small coil gun with a capacitor bank I made with 4 camera caps in parallel. The thing I'm not sure about is, should the wires of the coil be insulated or un-insulated?

Note- Yes, I no this will not be very powerfull, you don't need to tell me.
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Ragnarok
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Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:33 pm

They HAVE to be insulated, or the coil will be utterly useless.
Use enamelled magnet (might also be known as coil or solenoid) wire - 20 SWG is usually a good bet.
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TurboSuper
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Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:08 pm

Yeah, just scrape the insulation (enamel) off the ends so you can solder them.
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jimmy101
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Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:02 am

A good source of wire is an old motor or transformer.

If the wire is a shiny copper color it probably is insulated. If it wasn't coated with something the copper would have corroded to the brownish/green of old copper pipe.

Radioshack has this set for $6;
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http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2036277


You can burn the insulation off the end with a match. I find it works better than scraping.
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MaxuS the 2nd
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Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:41 pm

Just buy a roll of enamelled copper wire.

The wire on old motors or transformers is usually glued together to ensure that it doesn't unravel.

If the wire weren't insulated, you'd just have a rather hefty join in the circuit..
Badman
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