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how strong of an electromagnet can I make?

brainhulk

brainhulk

Diamond Member
1. wrap a shitload of copperwire around an iron barbell.
2. splice the wire into powercord
3. plug into wall outlet

would i get epic magneto powers?
 
Last edited:
I've done this before with a piece of blackpipe. Just make sure you use enough wire that the resistance is high enough for the current to be low enough not to blow the breaker. Note that since you're using AC the field will keep flipping back and forth so it will be completely useless as a magnet.
 
1. use magnet wire.
2. AC will not work, must use DC power and make sure you can control the current somehow, usually with the resistance of the coil.
 
I did that about 15 years ago in intro to electricity class. I used 2 Bic pens that I glued together as a barrel and wrapped magnet wire in loops around the barrel. I used a drill to spin the barrel while someone else held the spool of magnet wire. I used a boatload of it to get the resistance up high enough (I want to say 6 ohms, it's been a while) that I wouldn't instantly blow the breaker.

I then ground the head off a nail and sharpened the point so it would fit into the barrel and used a momentary switch to shoot it. At it's absolute best shot using wall current, I was able to drive the nail slightly less than an inch into a 2x4. If I held the switch too long, the nail would reverse direction and come out the wrong end. It was suprizingly weak for the amount of amperage it was pulling.

The breakthrough came when my physics class went though some electricity basics the nest year. I dug my creation out of my attic, and brought it back to electricy class for more fun. First, I had to reduce the windings to get the resistance down. Then, for power, I used a giant 80 farad (IIRC) capacitor bank and a boat load of power supplies in series to charge the caps. When I fired it, it sounded like a real gun went off. The nail went though the chalk board, the cinderblock wall behind it, and ended up in the broom closet on the other side of the wall. Sadly, the shot destroyed my device, but I still have the nail somewhere around here.
 
Evadman said:
I did that about 15 years ago in intro to electricity class. I used 2 Bic pens that I glued together as a barrel and wrapped magnet wire in loops around the barrel. I used a drill to spin the barrel while someone else held the spool of magnet wire. I used a boatload of it to get the resistance up high enough (I want to say 6 ohms, it's been a while) that I wouldn't instantly blow the breaker.

I then ground the head off a nail and sharpened the point so it would fit into the barrel and used a momentary switch to shoot it. At it's absolute best shot using wall current, I was able to drive the nail slightly less than an inch into a 2x4. If I held the switch too long, the nail would reverse direction and come out the wrong end. It was suprizingly weak for the amount of amperage it was pulling.

The breakthrough came when my physics class went though some electricity basics the nest year. I dug my creation out of my attic, and brought it back to electricy class for more fun. First, I had to reduce the windings to get the resistance down. Then, for power, I used a giant 80 farad (IIRC) capacitor bank and a boat load of power supplies in series to charge the caps. When I fired it, it sounded like a real gun went off. The nail went though the chalk board, the cinderblock wall behind it, and ended up in the broom closet on the other side of the wall. Sadly, the shot destroyed my device, but I still have the nail somewhere around here.
Click to expand...

😱 😱 😵
 
Evadman said:
I did that about 15 years ago in intro to electricity class. I used 2 Bic pens that I glued together as a barrel and wrapped magnet wire in loops around the barrel. I used a drill to spin the barrel while someone else held the spool of magnet wire. I used a boatload of it to get the resistance up high enough (I want to say 6 ohms, it's been a while) that I wouldn't instantly blow the breaker.

I then ground the head off a nail and sharpened the point so it would fit into the barrel and used a momentary switch to shoot it. At it's absolute best shot using wall current, I was able to drive the nail slightly less than an inch into a 2x4. If I held the switch too long, the nail would reverse direction and come out the wrong end. It was suprizingly weak for the amount of amperage it was pulling.

The breakthrough came when my physics class went though some electricity basics the nest year. I dug my creation out of my attic, and brought it back to electricy class for more fun. First, I had to reduce the windings to get the resistance down. Then, for power, I used a giant 80 farad (IIRC) capacitor bank and a boat load of power supplies in series to charge the caps. When I fired it, it sounded like a real gun went off. The nail went though the chalk board, the cinderblock wall behind it, and ended up in the broom closet on the other side of the wall. Sadly, the shot destroyed my device, but I still have the nail somewhere around here.
Click to expand...

O_O

80 farads?

are you sure? that is a LOT of capacitance

edit2: well, 80 farads... depending on other things.
 
Evadman said:
The breakthrough came when my physics class went though some electricity basics the nest year. I dug my creation out of my attic, and brought it back to electricy class for more fun. First, I had to reduce the windings to get the resistance down. Then, for power, I used a giant 80 farad (IIRC) capacitor bank and a boat load of power supplies in series to charge the caps. When I fired it, it sounded like a real gun went off. The nail went though the chalk board, the cinderblock wall behind it, and ended up in the broom closet on the other side of the wall. Sadly, the shot destroyed my device, but I still have the nail somewhere around here.
Click to expand...

Damn, I wish there was a video of this.
 
nonameo said:
80 farads? are you sure? that is a LOT of capacitance
Click to expand...

I'm almost sure, but it was a long time ago. There were 80 caps, and each was about the size of a coffee can. I'm almost positive they were 1 farad each.

nonameo said:
I also question whether or not the nail would have held up to that.
Click to expand...

You would be surprised how strong nails are. I have a nailgun that is made to drive a nail though a 2x4 and 2 inches into concrete. Cinder block is also actually very brittle, it isn't as strong as you may think. The nails that I was playing around with would have also have been (effectively anyway) case hardened due to the way I sharpened them (grinding on a wheel, then quenching in oil). Knowing what I know now about balistics, I am actually more surprised that the nail wasn't tumbling by the time it hit the chalk board. (heaver in the back, no rifling or spin, short barrel) Well, either that or the tumble was perfect.

Quick calc: A .22LR has 159 joules of muzzle energy (159 watt seconds). I don't remember the voltage on the caps, but I know we went over the rating. I want to say the caps were rated to 96v, but I'm not sure. Even if I am off by 100% and they were 48v, that's still 384 watts; more power than a 22LR. However, that is only 8 amps though discharge would have been in a new nanoseconds instead of 120th of a second. I was pulling 20 out of the wall without damage to the coil (though it did get warm). When I fired the coil on the caps, the barrel turned into goo and I couldn't touch the coil because it was so hot. After doing this calc and typing this, it had to be over 96v or I screwed up on the math somewhere. Granted, it is 3 AM 😛
 
So basically what you created was a coil gun. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that.
 
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