Hello LG,

There is even some free software that can draw the spirograph figures:
http://www.brothersoft.com/spirograph-235965.html
http://download.cnet.com/Spirograph/3000-2191_4-75905060.html
http://spirograph.softpedia.com/

Have fun,

Bertus

 

I haven't looked about how people wind such a coil but, as a true spirographer back in the early 1970s and a wire art savant, I assumed spirographer method is used.

I would drill holes in a thin board where the nodes must be. The set that over a thicker board (19 mm or 3/4") and pound finishing nails at each node (thicker nails if you want to cut the heads off with a cut-off wheel later). Then wrap as needed. When done, lift the thin board to slide the coils off of the nails. You can use zip-ties to hold everything in place or it will be self-supporting if you use solid wire and appear much more decorative. You can also pour epoxy resin over it to hold all the wire in place - including the thin board if it is finished nicely before you start.

 

Thanks alot guys! a great help. I am still thinking on how to finish it, I have dismissed cable ties as too ugly, a bit of experimentation is required i think , first I will have a look at the software. I will also wind a normal coil with same amount of wire, and see if i can spot how different the fields are regarding direction etc, I am expecting a normal coil to have way more power, but I hope the spiro coil (I prefer spiro coil to starship coil) is more directional and the spread smaller.
I have also had a quick play with a simple booster to get 40V so i can look into power coupling for the power transfer to the globe leds, if I can get that to work well I might at a later point make a POV clock with inductive coupling, but I have doubts I can get enough power for that sort of thing.

 

I have ordered a cheap spirograph, after messing with different shapes, it looks like as long as the center is pretty round, then shape dosnt matters so much! For my purpose thats great, I can go ahead and pick something that looks cool without loosing much power , The inductive coupling is proving to be a bit of a challenge, I can get decent voltage but not current so far, I was after 1A but now I have dropped the target to 5V @ around 130mA, also needs to be lightweight so it floats easy