A Home Built Magnet Charger

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: A Home Built Magnet Charger
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 03:01 pm:

This is the magnet charge that I used to charge the magnets on my Hand Crank Coil Testers and a few Model T engines.

Magnet Charger

The plastic spool was bought at Home Depot with 50 feet of 12 Gauge green solid wire. The wire did not half fill the spool. A second spool was also bought with 50 feet of 12 Gauge black solid wire. The second spool was connected to the first spool with a splice and all the wire was wound on one spool. Two different colors make keeping the + and - leads separate, which is important. The spool ends are marked N and S and the North magnet ends are identified with the green tape.

A 5 inch piece of 3/4th inch soft iron rod was smooth cut and then polished on the ends to be used for a pole piece.

The 30 - 0 - 30 ammeter was found at a flea market for $4 cash money.

A repro starter switch was used to apply power.

The meter draws about 28 amps with the starter button pressed.

Power On

With the red lead clipped to the + battery pole and the meter reading + then the N and S spool poles will be correct.

The S spool pole is applied to each N Magnet pole and the switch is pressed for about 3 seconds on each pole.

Then the spool is turned around and the process repeated with the S Magnet poles
.
One application is enough for the magnet charge to pass inspection.

I am going to repeat the charge procedure to see if any increased meter readings are observed.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Davis-SE Georgia on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 03:17 pm:

What kind of battery(ies) are you using?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 03:56 pm:

A 6 Volt Group 1 from Walmart.

The coil assembly is not hot when all the magnets are charged, so a 12 volt battery could be used.

The black case holding the meter and switch was about $5 at Radio Shack.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Travis E. Towle on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 09:20 pm:

Nice - here is a photo of my original charger and I was thinking it might work they way you are doing it... What do you think - is mine ment to be used "magnets on" like yours or "magnets off"?




Travis Towle
Topeka, Kansas

785-357-1004


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug - Braidwood (glow in the dark), IL on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 11:31 pm:

Welcome Back Travis.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 12:35 am:

Wow, 3 seconds. You will find things heat up less if you can shorten your cycle. Try to just tap the switch and get 1/2 or 1/3 second for the charging cycle. You get the same charge from a short burst as you do for that mongo long cycle you are using. The only difference is you use less electricity and the tool doesn't get so hot.

When I charge my magnets I use my DC arc welder at 50 VDC and around 20 amps. With that set up there is no way you ever want to hook it up and take a vacation while the current is running. 3 seconds would probably send my magneto (I charge using an old mag ring) up in smoke. I just strike the wire onto the contact post of the mag... kind of wipe it across the surface for at most 1/4 second.

Here you see my old arc welder (power supply) and the mag ring set up to recharge my magnets. I put a nail into the arc welder electrode holder handle and just flash it against the mag post (you can see it attached to that partially unwound coil).

This set up is rotated two poles and repeated. I have to charge it in 8 positions... however if all your coils are good you can really get a great job by just flashing it once in one position. When you set the mag ring on your magnets you can easily lift it up and reposition it however you want. After your first zap you have to use a pry bar to lift that mag ring off of the magnets.


Here you see me positioning the pry bar to get the mag off of the magnets. If you just pick up the mag ring you will find it will lift up the magnets, flywheel and transmission unit together and still not separate from the magnets.

There's more ways to charge magnets than there are ways to skin a cat.

TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Cascisa - Poulsbo, Washington on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 12:57 am:

James,

That’s a very creative magnet charger. It looks like an open ended ‘bar’ electro-magnet (the ‘bar’ being the soft iron core). Magnetic lines of force exit the core from the North pole, pass through air and enter the core at the South pole. Air is a poor conductor of magnetic lines of force.

A stronger magnetic charge can be induced into the target magnet if there is a complete magnetic circuit for the lines of force to travel in. If an additional piece of soft iron in the shape of an ‘L’ were placed between the end of the electro-magnet not in contact with the flywheel magnet and the magnet being charged, (essentially making a ‘U’ shaped electro-magnet) this would allow more charging magnetism to be passed into the flywheel magnet.

The photo below shows generally what I am trying to say. There is a complete magnetic circuit from the charging magnet into the flywheel magnet. Hope this makes sense.

Be_Zero_Be


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 09:32 am:

Bob, the jury is still out on whether my experiment is worth doing or whether the procedure Terry is using is the best way to go.

Terry's procedure will only work with the engine removed from the vehicle and the transmission removed from the engine. That is a lot of work.

My procedure will work with the transmission cover removed and has been demonstrated to be effective.

The first problem I had was finding a meter to measure the magnetic field strength in order to determine how effective the procedure is for charging those magnets. I'm not even sure I have done that yet.

Once I get a good meter, then I have to determine just how strong the field can or should be to produce a good Magneto.

I have not even determined the best place to measure the magnetic field on the magnet pole pice with a non-magnetic field screw right in the center. An interesting fact is that the measurement of that pole piece is about half the value of the measurement of the two magnet legs under it.

The device that Travis has might be the best way to go, if the area is large enough to cover most of the magnet pole piece. Then too, the best way to go might be to remove the engine, transmission and magnets for an individual charge.

Coilman pointed out other considerations that have to be addressed, such as the possibility of a cracked magnet that is broken in the V area and not visible, unless the magnet is removed. This fact alone suggest that all magnets may need to be removed, cleaned, inspected, tested and charged separately.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy Driscoll on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 10:45 pm:

My 21st edition Dykes, page 313 tells how to charge magnets individually while still in the car. They show a charger similar to the Gingery design with accessory pole pieces so you can charge both north and south poles at once. They don't show it in the book, but evidently you're supposed to wrestle that heavy, clumsy charger, upside down, over your open transmission. They must have done it in the day or it wouldn't have made it into Dykes.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By doug hauge upstate NY stittville 13469 on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 08:13 am:

Here is a picture of my hand held charger. never have seen another one like this, have you?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By doug hauge upstate NY stittville 13469 on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 08:23 am:

i try again, sorry


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 08:23 am:

Doug, I would certainly like to see that picture.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By doug hauge upstate NY stittville 13469 on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 08:30 am:

another pic of my hand held charger


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George_Cherry Hill NJ on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 08:38 am:

Actually, Dougs is quite interesting because those wire wound coils sure look like the same that came out of a truck starter solenoid...lol...fine wires, a zillion turns...a weak 6V battery will take the magnets to 5 pounds or so easy...lol

Ever tried it Doug? I'm actually curious as I think fine wire coils at a zillion turns are a good idea, just curious if it is all theory as the test of time is will the magnetism stay.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy Driscoll on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 08:08 pm:

The Dykes instruction I referred to above must assume the mechanic would be using a charger like Doug's. The charger in the picture posted by Travis looks to be about the same design, but it's hard to tell if it was made for Fords because his picture is cut off at the top. Dougs' was definitely made for charging magnets while in the car. With the 90 degree handle and the 11 1/4 degree angle on the pole pieces, it's a special tool for Ford cars. The first one I've seen.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By doug hauge upstate NY stittville 13469 on Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 07:41 am:

i have never used it, but i reconized it at a garage sale and grabed it. the angle of the contact area where it fits the magnets was a give away. just a cool old tool.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Garnet on Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 03:44 pm:

Somewhat similar to this one Doug:

http://www.google.com/patents/US1444299?dq=1444299&ei=EzLBT4HXD4iziQKV97TXBw

Garnet


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Travis E. Towle on Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 06:34 pm:

Holy COW - that patent is exactly what I have - ! Great! Thanks Garnet!

Travis E. Towle
Topeka, Kansas


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Garnet on Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 06:41 pm:

You can send me the charger Travis. I promise to take my time and do a detailed inspection and comparison to the patent. I'll get it back to you sometime!

You and Doug are to be admired - I'd love to find one to add to my own toybox !!

Garnet


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Travis E. Towle on Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 07:30 pm:

i got it for free as a gift too


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 07:36 pm:

Garnet, great Internet detective work!

The handle on doug's unit looks like it may have been replaced with a screwdriver handle.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Garnet on Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 09:12 pm:

Actually, I had it on the computer (along with hundreds of other Model T related patents).

You can search patents here. It looks like a regular Google search page but it's not:

http://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&hl=en


Fer instance, type in ford+magento and check out the results. You can further narrow down what you're looking for by using some of the choices on the left side such as filing date or patent date. When viewing a patent the following shortcuts will be on the left side of the page:

Overview
Abstract
Drawings
Description
Claims

Along the top of the page you will see a Download button. Click on that to save the patent to your computer.

You can spend days and days at this (I know)!


Garnet


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