Secondary Construction

Went to my FAV store, Home Depot, and picked up a few goodies. I was looking to build a simple secondary winder on a micro-budget. Here's what I managed to snag...

1) 36" Length of AL rod.
2) Two rolls of AL tape (eventually to be used on my toroid....or not. Just wanted more than I had).
3) 4 4" I.D. PVC endcaps (I really only needed two, but what the heck).
4) Probably the most unusual, but nessecary. Nabbed a cheapie $6 toilet snake for the crank. I just hacksawed off the snake part, and voila! Instant crank!

I had a lot of scrap wood laying about the garage from remodeling my house, so for the base I just used some 2x6. Nothing fancy here!



Here's the setup...see the wood thing under the spool of wire? That was what I was going to cradle the spool in for winding, but the tension was hellacious! So, I drilled a few holes into the studs & threw an aluminum rod in there. I chose AL stuff because....


1) It bends easily. So if I fork up an alignment hole, no biggie. I can live with a little wobble.


2) It's a lot cheaper than steel!


Closeup of my 8 Cyl mega-winder! Fully blown with an oversized CAM and performance valves! =)


O.K., O.K., it's only the aforementioned crank duct-taped to the top PVC cap. The head in the background came in handy for holding my work as I drilled or sawed! Note the wood shim in the shaft hole for tension...




Another close-up of the duct-tape junction




The stationary AL rod side, also shimmed.







Another shot of the whole works...




O.K., I'm having WAY too much fun winding this secondary...note the beer fridge off to the left!






Looks like the secondary passed the OFISC (Objective Feline Inspection of Secondary Construction) test. Here's 'Mando' checking out the specs...this is the closest he's ever going to get to this baby!





A shot of the finished secondary, caked in PU, and topped off with the ubiquitous "dryer-vent" toroid. It's just resting on top of the secondary for the sake of a more impressive (?) shot. The primary supports aren't the finished deal either. Too many alignment problems (drilling round stock is an absolute P.I.T.A.!). I'm opting for a diced plastic kitchen cutting board for primary supports. Looks better with the sexy tabletop provided by Jim and the crew at Ladco, too. Nabbed some cable reels from Sembert Pallet & Lumber of Model City, NY (What About Bob?) for support. I'm still tinkering on how to go about incorporating these into my final design.




And here are a few shots of that aforementioned sexy tabletop, courtesy of Ladco Displays of Canada.


Check out the ham, Nikko the Cat, chillin' like a villan in the chair behind the tabletop...





How sweet is this???



This is an absolute work of CNC art!!! I only hope that I can do it justice in my final design. Check out the 6 slots for added tuning capability, perfectly machined from 1"x30" acrylic. Esthetic beauty, as well as electrical insulation.




Back to Home Page!