17 replies to this topic

[Phil Hackett]

While it is on casters you will not be lugging this down to the local raceway. It's about the size of a small washing machine and weighs about 360 pounds. It is a very serious piece of equipment that could be lethal if you don't take it seriously.

 

The specs for this particular machine (Model 942-8) is that it will discharge 3600 watt/seconds (3600 Joules) of energy. It **WILL** recharge any magnet used in slot cars or the hobby industry that can be restored. The factory claims a 34 *pound*  piece of ALNICO material will be magnetically saturated and be fully charged (see picture below). After all it uses ignitrons for the discharge of the capacitors.

 

New rectifier tubes and ignitrons and timer assembly were installed and very light usage has occurred since.

 

It runs on ordinary 120v 1ph power (needs a 15amp supply)

 

The machine will come with all spares and manuals.

 

If you are outside the SoCal area (assuming you want it shipped) it will be necessary to *truck* it to you. It is heavier than 350 pounds. I have no idea how much shipping might be with or without palleting or crating.

 

There will be a release of liability upon sale that must be signed and returned to us.

 

If you're in the SoCal area and want to see it in action please contact Sonic @ 310-516-1915.

 

 

 

 

 

Specs for Model 942-8...

 

 

 

[bbr]

it is like a induction heater use to melt metals. 

it was in a basement lab at UCLA, I used it a few times while working for a professor.

you don't want to be too close, you can feel the emf affecting (cooking) your body

[Phil Hackett]

it is like a induction heater use to melt metals. 

it was in a basement lab at UCLA, I used it a few times while working for a professor.

you don't want to be too close, you can feel the emf affecting (cooking) your body

 

It's capacitive discharge. The discharge happens within 240th of a second. So it's a single pulse and not radio frequency radiation the induction heaters use. The factory manual says some huge amount of amps are discharged at peak. 

[mreibman]

I applaud anyone who has the space for it and wants to put it to good use. But I would love to read the manual. Any chance we can get a scan of that at some point?

[MSwiss]

Phil is not kidding about it being potentially lethal.

Ours, at Koford, was 5-6 feet tall, and had a lock on the back cabinet door.

If you tried to open it when plugged in, or charged, it would shut down/ discharge the huge bank of capacitors.

[Racer36]

If someone got hit by those capacitors, I doubt they would be around to ask what happened.

[Phil Hackett]

Phil is not kidding about it being potentially lethal.

Ours, at Koford, was 5-6 feet tall, and had a lock on the back cabinet door.

If you tried to open it when plugged in, or charged, it would shut down/ discharge the huge bank of capacitors.

 

Same thing on this unit. Every access panel is interlocked to discharge/disconnect the machine. Even then one needs to be *very* careful even if it's disconnected from the mains...

[MattD]

Where's Doc Brown when you need him?  Sounds like a flux capacitor to me.    I magnetize my  tools by wrapping wire around them and touching it to a car battery!!

[gotboostedvr6]

Is that the wire wound air core on the surface?

[gotboostedvr6]

What diameter is the wire?

[Mr. M]

I have heard stories about these when care is not taken and steel starts flying through walls. No exaggeration.

[Phil Hackett]

Is that the wire wound air core on the surface?

 Air core

 

 

What diameter is the wire?

 

 

I don't know that since I didn't design or build it. It works and will vaporize a Fluke multimeter if it's left attached when testing (not me-Rocket Scientist brain fart). I Suggested a warranty claim....

 

I have heard stories about these when care is not taken and steel starts flying through walls. No exaggeration.

 

Shooting screwdrivers across the shop was a test. Impaling one into the wall 50 feet away showed the power it has and was then time to stop before someone got hurt.

[Mike Patterson]

Shooting screwdrivers across the shop was a test. Impaling one into the wall 50 feet away showed the power it has and was then time to stop before someone got hurt.

Any video of this?

[MSwiss]

Phil's air coil is horizontal.

Our air coil at Koford, was vertical.

It was super-nicely made.

Basically a 6 or 7", both diameter, and height, smooth black ring.

It just had 2 large diameter, super-flexible wires, feeding into it, along with a couple of brass nipples, for the tubing for the water cooling.

Flexibility in the wire was important, because when I charged a stack of 10 cobalt mags, at 600-700 volts, the draped loop of wire, jumped a few inches.

When I say it was smooth, it was completely "potted".

Nothing was accessible.

When the internal piping(?) for the water cooling, apparently plugged up, from corrosion(?), we just had to disconnect the water, and use a bit of discretion when zapping a large quantity of magnets.

More text at post #17.

[Bill from NH]

Did it zap both cobalts & ceramics? Does Koford still use this zapper?

[MSwiss]

Yes.

 

You just turned it way down for ceramics.

 

It's long gone.

 

It stayed at the company, that bought Koford Engineering, in 2001.

 

When he bought back the slot racing division, in 2004, Stu had to purchase something new.

 

BTW, ceramics were way more tricky to zap, because of the radial orientation.

 

The weaker the magnet, the more I had to monkey-ef  around, to improve it, vs. make it worse.

[MSwiss]

A continuation of post #14 .
 
The nature of the air coil is it will grab anything in it, and depending on the charge, near it, and pull it to the center to do the center of the ring.
 
Originally, I used to wrap #898 strapping tape around the setup, and the with correct side down, firmly hold the tail of the tape with my thumb and forefinger , and place it in the coil.
 
So when you put a setup in, and you were holding it a little bit above the center, it would pull it down.
 
If you weren't holding on tight, it would slam it into the bottom of the coil.
 
Conversely, if you managed to get it that lower than center,  it would push at my fingers and try flip.
 
Some of the hourly guys, for their amusement would drop in blem cobalt magnet pieces, into the bottom of the coil.
 
When they would hit the charge button, that piece would want to instantaneously come to the center.
 
With nothing to stop it, it had so much momentum it would just shoot up and out of the coil, and get stuck to the 14(?) foot steel ceiling.
 
I would look up there, and see a few dozen pieces of cobalt magnet, and just shake my head. LOL
 
The story I've told numerous times, here, involves the same guys, including one of my current regular racers, Andy Fisher.
 
Andy was our CNC operator, and among other things, was in charge cutting the cobalt magnets with the EDM machine.
 
So he had easy access to all the scraps.
 
Well, one time, at lunch, I walked into Pizza Hut and all the hourly guys were  already there, eating.
 
After I got done eating, as I was walking out, I noticed they were all in this adjacent little room, where they had a video game and a pinball machine.
 
They were all standing around the pinball machine, while one guy played, hootin' and hollerin', like they had never seen a pinball machine before.
 
I got back to the shop, and I saw Stu to standing by the time clock, looking at everybody's time card, to see when they punched out.
 
He asked me "where the heck is everybody? We got a bunch of work to do."
 
I said I saw them all at Pizza Hut, and when I left, they were still there.
 
He replied "Well, they better get back soon and make sure you tell him their lunches are 45 minutes, regardless if they're punched out or not."
 
 When they got back, I read them the minor riot act, and asked them what's the deal with playing pinball like a bunch of little kids.
 
Andy then showed me a large cobalt scrap piece, just small enough to still fit in the air coil, to zap.
 
It was so powerful, they could slide it along the glass, and "grab" the ball, and control it.
 
They were steering the ball, getting astronomical scores, unlimited free games, blah blah blah, and didn't want to leave until they had all 10 top scores, with their initials. LOL

[Phil Hackett]

Good thing glass on pinball machines is tempered.