Core Wire

[peth]

Hi,

There seems to be a problem getting fine wire for the core has any ever tried this wire http://www.koch.com.au/florist-wire it comes in all gauges is straight and is plastic coated and very soft steel. I have used it on other projects and it works good.

Ian

[BobZilla]

It may work for a little while but the problem is that it will magnetize and keep it's field. For this technology remember we want rapid collapsing fields.

Try it if you like but I would not glue it in to much so that you can change it later.

[wrtner]

BobZilla is very diplomatic.

Spend as much time and money as you want with steel wire and when you want results, fall back on JB's recommendation of R45 or R60 gas welding rods. Iron is the stuff but it is very hard to find.

[min2oly]

Some floral/florist wire is made of iron some of steel...

read the label before you buy.
That being said... I would stick with the welding rods, it's the carbon mixed in that helps it loose it's magnetism. Establish a baseline with JB recommended parts then experiment with other things as you wish. This philosophy will go a long way to keep you from chasing a ghost tail.
KR - Patrick A.

[Tom C]

http://www.teslagenx.com/parts/tx-r6...category=parts

Tom C

[peth]

Thanks for the feed back this wire is very very soft will have to find out more also being very fine I thought it work better also I notice there seems to be an option to go for an open magnetic circuit rather than a closed one, would this be to make the bigger spike of the back emf?

[Lucid]

Hello there.

I have just started building a SSG motor and I have a question about the welding rod core. The rods I have and want to use are skinny gas rods (mild steel), I'm just concerned because they are copper coated. Can anyone tell me if this is going to be a problem?

[Brian516]

Lucid -

I am just a beginner myself here and am surfing the threads to gather info, so everyone's questions are very useful to me as I'm sure they are to you. I thought I would help you out a little before I asked my question here.

You should look up the MSDS (Safety Data Sheet) for your specific welding rods and see what their composition is. From what I gather, R45 and R60 (also called W1060 and W1200) are in fact copper coated soft carbon-iron with a little manganese in there. Here is a link to a PDF datasheet for them for comparison.

https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg...1200_0067.ashx

HOWEVER ----
As I have been told, and as you will also be told, it is best to stick with EXACTLY what is specified by JB, as it will always work the best for the way the Energizer is designed and built.
From my experiences as well, if you want to make a solid knowledge base on which to build from, you need to build the machine exactly to JB's spec. I made the mistake of not doing so because I was too impatient to wait for all the specified parts, and just built it with what I had. Now, looking back, I realize that all I really did was waste wire and time on something that will NEVER give me the desired results, and is inefficient for further experimentation. There are things I can still learn from my machine, but it will NEVER, EVER give me the results that I could achieve with the original setup. Point being, if you are unable to design and build your very own creation, then don't waste your materials, effort, and time on anything other than EXACTLY what JB gave us.... You probably need to learn the how and why of radiant energy and how to achieve it, just like I'm doing myself... after wasting plenty of time and materials because I was too arrogant to listen to the people who were trying to help me.

Anyway, on to my question:

I have read/heard/been told that rebar tie-wire (the black kind) is an OK alternative to the R45/60 welding rods for core material. I'm too inexperienced/unsure of how to figure out if it is holding it's magnetization or not (and have been unable to find a way to do so). It's composition is close to that of the Welding rods, but lacking in the 0.03 percent Copper. I also cannot find out from the MSDS's that I have found what the amount of Iron Oxide (Carbon) is in the welding rods to compare it to the tie wire. The tie wire is "low carbon steel" with 0.13 percent to 0.18 percent Carbon. Can anyone that is knowledgeable in metallurgy or this specific thing elaborate for me? Yes, I know that the recommended R45/60 rods are best, and I am going to hit up Grainger today and get myself some, but I can't help but be curious as to what difference this will have on the functionality of an energizer. (No copper coating, possibly a little less carbon in the material composition.....) Has anyone experimented with this, or will it have to wait until I'm able to experiment with it?

MSDS for the black iron rebar tie wire -
http://complyplus.grainger.com/grain...heetid=3887175

Thanks,
Brian