I’ve often thought about it, but never tried it before.
It seems like when I researched the possibility,
I got no further than reading about the appropriate material.
Just “googled it”……
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Top Choices for Magneto Coils:
- Silicon Steel (Electrical Steel): The workhorse material.
- Pros: Excellent magnetic flux concentration, improved electrical resistance (reducing eddy currents), better corrosion resistance, versatile grades (GO, NGO), and cost-effective.
- Cons: Can be brittle and harder to stamp, requiring specific tooling.
- Soft Iron: Great for simple electromagnets.
- Pros: Easily magnetized and demagnetized, low energy loss per cycle.
- Cons: Not as efficient for high-frequency or high-performance applications as silicon steel.
High-Performance Alternatives:Nickel Alloys: For demanding applications.
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- Pros: High permeability, very low core losses, good over cobalt.
- Cons: Expensive and requires skilled annealing due to fragility.
- Cobalt Alloys (e.g., VACOFLUX): For high power/saturation.
- Pros: High saturation flux density, handles high power well.
- Cons: High cost.
- Frequency: Thinner laminations (like 0.003-0.010″) are used for higher frequencies to reduce eddy currents.
- Texture: Grain-oriented (GO) steel is great for transformers (field along grain), while non-grain-oriented (NGO) is better for motors where the field rotates.
- Application: For basic magnetos (like in older engines), soft iron or basic silicon steel works; for advanced motors, specialized silicon steels or nickel/cobalt alloys are preferred.
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