Category: radios

The wire came in so time to continue this experiment. I finished unwinding the second of three coils on this item. The third coil is looking good on the meter and shows no signs of rot, so I will leave it and save Louis some tuning work. The outer coil was that mangled mess, so no chance of counting windings as I pulled it apart, but the second coil ( post 5 to 4 in my diagram) was in good shape other than the breaks in the wire and I got a good count off of it. It was post 4:  -> 5 winds up, 6th is a gap transition, and 7 to 43.5 where it drops back into the middle hole and goes internally to post5. After cleaning up all the oxide and applying a little bees wax I can start winding.

I started from the middle hole and worked my way back to post 4, that way I could keep the windings of coil 2 up tight against the remaining coil 3 just like it came from the factory. winding on this coil goes in the direction of the new wire, left in this pic. A few minutes of work making sure its all snug and I eneded up with this….

Mmmmmm hmmmm, thats nice and pretty. You can see the transition winding (number 6) in the gap between the new windings. In case anyone is wondering, I measured the gap that winding number 6 jumps as 0.088″ between winding number 7 and number 5.  A quick application of some Kapton tape to keep the windings safe and insulate them from coil 1 which wraps over the top and I can start on getting coil number 1 started.

Since I couldn’t count the number of winds because this was the ‘Medusa nest’ seen in the first post, I assumed that the wire was still it’s original length and was once nicely wound. So I took all the broken pieces and cut a piece of new wire the same length as all of them added together and wound it nicely starting from where the remaining original coil started and see where it gets us. The final count is 47 winds on this coil. Time to hand it to Louis and see if the radio will tune up properly with the rebuilt assembly.

I’ll keep you all posted on the results………….

Ok, first post since returning from a trip all the way across the states…… and I’m not posting about the trip. I know, big disappointment, but I will post about it soon. Just not now.

So dont ask when I will.

 

Right now I’m more interested in posting about a little experiment I have going on. A friend has an Emerson BJ-200 radio that doesn’t work because the oscillating coil is busted. I wind coils, so I thought “Hey, what the heck it’s already broke, right?” The last time I thought that it didn’t turn out so well, repairing cell phones while intoxicated was a bad thing, but I still bust out with a smile everytime I think about it.

So, no drinking during this attempted repair.

My friend Louis (who is repairing the radio) pulled the coil out for me to repair. I couldn’t believe what he handed me, it looked like this….

What the hell is that mess about half way up the coil? I mean really people, it shouldn’t look like a fishing reel after my ex-girlfriend tried her first cast. All of that should be nice and orderly, smooth layers of even windings. So, either this radio saw a REALLY bad day or someone else has been playing with this. I started deconstruction of the coil to see where everything was loosing connection. I had a pretty good idea where some of it would be when I saw the the green death-rot on some of the exposed windings.

     See that ugly little bit of green on there? That is the pure copper wire turning into oxide powder. Oxide powder doesn’t conduct, it just crumbles into dust and leaves a gap where wire should be. I needed to look deeper so I did, and found more rot.

Mmmmm. Tasty, like licking a penny when that green rot-powder starts floating through the air. And yes, this is where all the problems are at. Time to order some of the proper size wire and get to winding. So, as soon as I get the wire I just ordered in the mail we will continue this experiment and see if we can get the radio to work again.