i might as well give you the story. we have a large milling machine at work, that for some reason kept blowing solenoids in the gear change box. apparently the company that made the machine was asking $1000 each for n.o.s. solenoids, (the machine was made around the 1960's, but when its not blowing solenoids it still runs like a champ!) so i offered to rewind it. i pulled it apart and as soon as i unwound the melted coil the plastic piece it was wound around more or less crumbled to dust. i machined a new one out of aluminium, chucked it in the lathe and wound it full with 20awg magnet wire. once i got it back together and installed in the gear change box i found out it wasnt strong enough to engage a slide that it is attached to. this brings me to my questions.
1. would the use of aluminium for the center piece rather than plastic have any adverse effects?
2. if not, what would be the best way to go about making it stronger:
a. adding more coils of the same size wire
b. removing coils of wire
c. rewinding with larger wire
btw, i found out that the solenoids were getting left engaged inside the gear box due to a faulty switch. they are not continuous duty cycle, so they were over heating pretty quickly. if the machine works properly, they never receive power for more than a fraction of a second, followed by a few minutes without power.
any suggestions appreciated!!
1. would the use of aluminium for the center piece rather than plastic have any adverse effects?
2. if not, what would be the best way to go about making it stronger:
a. adding more coils of the same size wire
b. removing coils of wire
c. rewinding with larger wire
btw, i found out that the solenoids were getting left engaged inside the gear box due to a faulty switch. they are not continuous duty cycle, so they were over heating pretty quickly. if the machine works properly, they never receive power for more than a fraction of a second, followed by a few minutes without power.
any suggestions appreciated!!