I always sand the laminations down to bare metal. Most of the time the transformer has been painted and the paint seals the laminations together. I always use a heavy duty utility knife , and tap on one corner. Once it starts I just run it around the perimeter and they pop right off. Never had a blade brake, but you don't have to tap very hard. Still wore safety glasses. I like making bobbins the old way making a cardboard sleeve to wrap the wire on. I make a bobbin form from wood. I put a coat of varnish on every layer. Then remove the wood bobbin sides and core. Once done it's a solid bobbin with no sides. I can use close to 100 percent of the window area then. It gets a higher efficiency also. My winder is crude also. It was an apple peeler originally. It works good for me. It's very rewarding rewinding old transformers, and getting exactly what you need. It's hard to find the correct voltages most of the time when looking for a transformer for a custom project. Good video!
Thank you! Sounds great, I've never tried making the bobbins and winding on them. For smaller transformers I prefer the PCB type bobbins with preinstalled pins. Those are my favourite because there is no need for lead wires and everything is nice and neat and I create custom PCB boards for projects that are made to match the transformer pins so it's a win-win. But, for one off projects, I think cardboard bobbins are a better solution since you don't need any extra materials other than wire to complete the transformer.
Next time you do this, give the entire transformer a bath for 10-20 minutes in boiling water and it will almost fall apart on it's own. The amount of trouble you had to delaminate it is avoidable.
@@Mirroxaphene You'll probably end up with surface rust, no biggie. You could spray some WD-40 and/or some oil to prevent that from happening too much. In factories, they get the parts with surface rust from shipping but they just let it be. Once the wax layer is applied, no more rust will be able to form.
I rarely manage to get the last lamination back in when reassembling, so don't worry if you damage the first one getting it out. Also, the primary turns per core size are then slightly increased so no damage done. Just the power rating slightly decreased.
Would applying heat (with fire retardant gloves) to the laminations help? It looks like once you have first few off the rest gets easier. Is that the case?
Hi Delatsch, great video! Really helped me to unbuild an old transformer that i want to repair. One question regarding the core laminations. The Transformer i have has a lot of rust on each of the laminations. Do you have any preffered method of cleaning those laminations? I've read that they are coated so that they are insulated fromanother to decrease the effect of eddy current. Other people wrote that the rust could seperate the laminations which will cause hum/noise. I have thought about getting the rust of with vinegar but i'm not sure if i would destroy the transformer with this method, because of the lost of the insulation coat on each lamination. What is your method? Just leaving the rust on the laminations alone?
Thanks! If it is just surface rust don't worry about it. If the surface is uneven, try to clean it with a brush or with compressed air. But removing the rust is not important as long as you can assemble the core evenly. If you pot the transformer it will not cause any issues.
I save the "I" laminations from discarded transformers to wedge between the laminations. Once I can get enough of a gap between the laminations with a knife I can use a hammer to drive the junk "I" laminations all the way through, breaking the varnish that's gluing them together.
20 minutes of watching you rip one apart - and 90 seconds of how to clean and paint a bit of pressed steel! now how about a proper tutorial of winding the coils??? I was genuinely looking forward to this bit
Hi there, very interesting and informative video - thank you - that I've only just come across and about which I hope you are still open to a question on. If you have an EHT transformer with several winding layers to achieve a +2kV output voltage and you know the number of turns required is, say, 2200 turns, is it optional to have the turns equal or unequal on each layer so long as the total number of turns is achieved over the total number of layers and no single layer is way outside what would be reasonably chosen. So let's say the number of turns for each layer went 98, 96, 110, 104, 99, 121, 107 and so on until 2200 turns was reached on the final layer. I have this in an EHT transformer in a faulty oscilloscope with no display on its electrostatic CRT. The EHT winding went open circuit and I am rewinding it with fresh 38 AWG wire but would like to make each winding layer the total number of turns divided by the number of layers, so it's nice and even. I can do this, right? It won't matter?
Hi, thank you for your comment! I don't have much experience with flyback transformers, but I don't think that even or uneven layers could affect it in any way. The important thing is to have the final number of turns and in this case the isolation between layers and final high voltage coating is very important. Be very careful with high voltage, but I guess you have experience in working with TVs and similar HV equipment.
@@Delatsch Thank you! I very much appreciate your advice. Yes, I agree - I just thought it would be good to hear it from someone with experience like your good self. Yes, I will be very careful and I am following the original design and using good quality Mylar tape in between each layer and of course again on the topmost layer to fully insulate the exterior facing layer. The transformer will then be res-soldered to the original PCB, which uses a 6 stage Cockroft-Walton multiplier, then dropped back into its housing before filling it with potting compound to prevent arcing. Hopefully it all works once soldered back into the scope.
I know Im asking randomly but does any of you know a tool to log back into an instagram account? I somehow lost the password. I appreciate any tips you can give me
@Fox Brayden Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Do you ever hide a fuse in the last wind of the low voltage side? I thought my 120/24 was burned up but I found a fuse a half a turn away from the stub outs that saved the transformer. Now I'd just as soon put a fuse on the outside and solder the leads together on the inside and seal it all back up. This one has the strait laminates welded where they meet the E laminates. So would have been a bit more laborious to get them apart.
@@Delatsch iIt was a 5x22 250V 2 amp time delay round glass fuse with solder pig tails out each end. I couldn't make out the 2 amp part but that fuse comes up when I search the other info. It sure saves a lot of work being in there. I still have to track down the reason it blew that fuse to start with before something else gets ruined. Its on my HVAC system and has taken out my thermostat as well.
i have a cheap 12-0-12 transformer the current is unknown but im tested it which 10 ohm load and it give 600ma. it is possible get higher current after rewind it?
You can get higher current if you wind it with thicker wire, but of course the questions is whether the thicker gauge wire will fit onto that bobbin. Usually they are calculate to fill the stack as close as possible, so I guess it is not going to work.
Hi. When do you know if a power supply needs to be rewinded or some other components like the capacitor or resistor or transistor, need to be replaced instead? I have a Famicom power supply, it's a video game console. When I measure it at the end of the power supply jack (where it plugs to the unit), the measurement is less than 0.5v only. The specifications of the power supply is: MODEL HVC-002 MITSUOKA D.S AC100V 50/60Hz 18VA DC10V 850mA Our mains/outlet is 220v (s.e. asia). It'd be nice to restore it to its original. I've already opened it (it's got the rarest screw I've seen, tough to unscrew) it. When I test the voltage (using a step down transformer), what comes out of the jack (the end you plug into the Famicom) is less than 0.5v Thank you. God bless, Proverbs 31
Hi, must admit I'm not familiar with the device, but you should check the specified voltages at the output of the transformer where it enters the board. Those are all AC voltages. If they are ok then it means that something else is the problem. By very careful if you are not sure of what you are doing maybe it's better to ask help from a friend or someone locally who can help you.
You need to open circuit the secondary of the transformer and then measure the voltage across it to figure if the transformer is dead or if it's the rectifier etc downstream loading it. Basica troubleshooting ...
Of course, there is no real difference between the primary and secondary windings. It is relative to the where you connect the input. But, you can guess what is the actual primary by color code, usually the reds are HV, greens are 6.3V and so on and primary is black and white. You can also measure the resistance and the primary will usually be a lot higher than low voltage windings and the the B+ hv windings will usually be higher dc resistance than the primary. The safest would be to feed what you guess is the primary with a sine wave with 100mV and then measure the rest to make sure you didn't guess it wrong by getting too high a values. Then increase it to 1V and recheck and then finally to 5V and then measure the other taps and calculate the ratios.
You could try heating it up in the oven or by a hot air gun, but I think that water would not be the best solution. Haven't tried it though. Thanks for stopping by!
I usually don't do it, only if it is a vintage Fender, Marshall or Vox output transformer and if you are in EU, because shipping and other issues make it problematic.You can contact me on my facebook page, check the links in the description.
Hi SevenDeMagnus, Well, you should measure the AC voltages at the output of the transformer, but you should have a basic knowledge of electronics and make sure you follow the safety precautions. Maybe it's just easier to get a replacement since these adapters usually use a tiny transformers which are impossible to rewind.
Doesn't the Famicom, like pretty much every home console from the time, have a 7805 voltage regulator right after the input? So it can take everything from 7.5V to 12V (just note that the higher the voltage, the more heat it gives off, so you'd want to stay between 7.5 and 10V). No need for a special PSU. The US/European NES has a rectifier, so it doesn't even care about polarity or if it's AC or DC. It should also be rated for at least 500mA (1000mA or more if you use fancy multicarts). Note that if you're preserving the original PSU for originality's sake, this entire comment is pointless.
What exactly do you need? Usually it is easier and cheaper to just wind a new transformer or find one with the same specs. Unless it is some "holy grail" unit it is not worth it because in the US it would cost a lot.
Seriously? You spent way more time on polishing the end bells than you did on actually WINDING the transformer! This wasn't a tutorial on how to rewind a transformer, it was a tutorial on disassembling one.
Disassembling a transformer is the most difficult part when rewinding and reusing the transformer. Winding itself is the easiest part and is covered well in my other videos. You can check the other videos on winding power and output transformers in which I show the process of winding more closely.
@@Delatsch You keep saying that you have other videos more closely displaying that part of the process, but that's not why people came to this one. While what you said is true that disassembly is the hardest part, that fact doesn't do any good for the people who've already taken care of that, or don't need the help.
@@noaha8915 It's funny how 140 people understood the point, knew where and why they came and gave the thumbs up for all the hard work involved in making this and all the other videos. Instead of complaining and splitting hairs about the title you should at least encourage the creators. This is not a daily vlog where I talk nonsense, put five ads in the video and take sponsorships just to trick you into watching. I'm showing real practical aspects of many topics related to transformers that you can hardly find anywhere on the internet. I'm also doing my best in preparing new and better content so that the videos are worth watching and you can learn something from them. Is it so difficult to click couple of times and check out my other videos and find more information there?
I always sand the laminations down to bare metal. Most of the time the transformer has been painted and the paint seals the laminations together. I always use a heavy duty utility knife , and tap on one corner. Once it starts I just run it around the perimeter and they pop right off. Never had a blade brake, but you don't have to tap very hard. Still wore safety glasses. I like making bobbins the old way making a cardboard sleeve to wrap the wire on. I make a bobbin form from wood. I put a coat of varnish on every layer. Then remove the wood bobbin sides and core. Once done it's a solid bobbin with no sides. I can use close to 100 percent of the window area then. It gets a higher efficiency also. My winder is crude also. It was an apple peeler originally. It works good for me. It's very rewarding rewinding old transformers, and getting exactly what you need. It's hard to find the correct voltages most of the time when looking for a transformer for a custom project. Good video!
Thank you! Sounds great, I've never tried making the bobbins and winding on them. For smaller transformers I prefer the PCB type bobbins with preinstalled pins. Those are my favourite because there is no need for lead wires and everything is nice and neat and I create custom PCB boards for projects that are made to match the transformer pins so it's a win-win. But, for one off projects, I think cardboard bobbins are a better solution since you don't need any extra materials other than wire to complete the transformer.
Your patience and tenacity is an inspiration to me!
Thank you for your kind words! I'm happy to be able to inspire!
Me too, thanks Delatsch.
Thank you!
Me too
Thanks Delatsch
Next time you do this, give the entire transformer a bath for 10-20 minutes in boiling water and it will almost fall apart on it's own. The amount of trouble you had to delaminate it is avoidable.
Thank you for your comment. I will give it a try!
Does the water cause the silica steel to rust?
@@Mirroxaphene You'll probably end up with surface rust, no biggie. You could spray some WD-40 and/or some oil to prevent that from happening too much.
In factories, they get the parts with surface rust from shipping but they just let it be. Once the wax layer is applied, no more rust will be able to form.
I rarely manage to get the last lamination back in when reassembling, so don't worry if you
damage the first one getting it out. Also, the primary turns per core size are then slightly increased so no damage done. Just the power rating slightly decreased.
Yeah, it's not a big deal :)
Would applying heat (with fire retardant gloves) to the laminations help? It looks like once you have first few off the rest gets easier. Is that the case?
Putting it in the oven on the low heat should help a lot.
Hi Delatsch, great video! Really helped me to unbuild an old transformer that i want to repair. One question regarding the core laminations. The Transformer i have has a lot of rust on each of the laminations. Do you have any preffered method of cleaning those laminations? I've read that they are coated so that they are insulated fromanother to decrease the effect of eddy current. Other people wrote that the rust could seperate the laminations which will cause hum/noise. I have thought about getting the rust of with vinegar but i'm not sure if i would destroy the transformer with this method, because of the lost of the insulation coat on each lamination. What is your method? Just leaving the rust on the laminations alone?
Thanks! If it is just surface rust don't worry about it. If the surface is uneven, try to clean it with a brush or with compressed air. But removing the rust is not important as long as you can assemble the core evenly. If you pot the transformer it will not cause any issues.
@@Delatsch Thank you! :)
i actually clicked this video thinking ill see a woman winding the transformer
I save the "I" laminations from discarded transformers to wedge between the laminations. Once I can get enough of a gap between the laminations with a knife I can use a hammer to drive the junk "I" laminations all the way through, breaking the varnish that's gluing them together.
20 minutes of watching you rip one apart - and 90 seconds of how to clean and paint a bit of pressed steel! now how about a proper tutorial of winding the coils??? I was genuinely looking forward to this bit
Check out several of my other transformer related videos where I show the winding process more closely.
Love this channel, so helpful for newbie. thanks for sharing...
Thank you very much!
Hi there, very interesting and informative video - thank you - that I've only just come across and about which I hope you are still open to a question on.
If you have an EHT transformer with several winding layers to achieve a +2kV output voltage and you know the number of turns required is, say, 2200 turns, is it optional to have the turns equal or unequal on each layer so long as the total number of turns is achieved over the total number of layers and no single layer is way outside what would be reasonably chosen. So let's say the number of turns for each layer went 98, 96, 110, 104, 99, 121, 107 and so on until 2200 turns was reached on the final layer. I have this in an EHT transformer in a faulty oscilloscope with no display on its electrostatic CRT. The EHT winding went open circuit and I am rewinding it with fresh 38 AWG wire but would like to make each winding layer the total number of turns divided by the number of layers, so it's nice and even. I can do this, right? It won't matter?
Hi, thank you for your comment! I don't have much experience with flyback transformers, but I don't think that even or uneven layers could affect it in any way. The important thing is to have the final number of turns and in this case the isolation between layers and final high voltage coating is very important. Be very careful with high voltage, but I guess you have experience in working with TVs and similar HV equipment.
@@Delatsch Thank you! I very much appreciate your advice. Yes, I agree - I just thought it would be good to hear it from someone with experience like your good self. Yes, I will be very careful and I am following the original design and using good quality Mylar tape in between each layer and of course again on the topmost layer to fully insulate the exterior facing layer. The transformer will then be res-soldered to the original PCB, which uses a 6 stage Cockroft-Walton multiplier, then dropped back into its housing before filling it with potting compound to prevent arcing. Hopefully it all works once soldered back into the scope.
I know Im asking randomly but does any of you know a tool to log back into an instagram account?
I somehow lost the password. I appreciate any tips you can give me
@Abel Wesson instablaster =)
@Fox Brayden Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
The only thing driving me crazy is your lack of real tools and your editing talent.
Moj tebra genije. :) Love is all around. :)
Oh yeah!
Do you ever hide a fuse in the last wind of the low voltage side? I thought my 120/24 was burned up but I found a fuse a half a turn away from the stub outs that saved the transformer.
Now I'd just as soon put a fuse on the outside and solder the leads together on the inside and seal it all back up.
This one has the strait laminates welded where they meet the E laminates. So would have been a bit more laborious to get them apart.
That is thermal fuse which is really not needed in my opinion. Normal fuse in the primary outside is more than enough.
@@Delatsch iIt was a 5x22 250V 2 amp time delay round glass fuse with solder pig tails out each end. I couldn't make out the 2 amp part but that fuse comes up when I search the other info.
It sure saves a lot of work being in there.
I still have to track down the reason it blew that fuse to start with before something else gets ruined. Its on my HVAC system and has taken out my thermostat as well.
i have a cheap 12-0-12 transformer the current is unknown but im tested it which 10 ohm load and it give 600ma. it is possible get higher current after rewind it?
You can get higher current if you wind it with thicker wire, but of course the questions is whether the thicker gauge wire will fit onto that bobbin. Usually they are calculate to fill the stack as close as possible, so I guess it is not going to work.
Hi. When do you know if a power supply needs to be rewinded or some other components like the capacitor or resistor or transistor, need to be replaced instead? I have a Famicom power supply, it's a video game console. When I measure it at the end of the power supply jack (where it plugs to the unit), the measurement is less than 0.5v only. The specifications of the power supply is:
MODEL HVC-002
MITSUOKA D.S
AC100V 50/60Hz 18VA
DC10V 850mA
Our mains/outlet is 220v (s.e. asia).
It'd be nice to restore it to its original. I've already opened it (it's got the rarest screw I've seen, tough to unscrew) it.
When I test the voltage (using a step down transformer), what comes out of the jack (the end you plug into the Famicom) is less than 0.5v
Thank you.
God bless, Proverbs 31
Hi, must admit I'm not familiar with the device, but you should check the specified voltages at the output of the transformer where it enters the board. Those are all AC voltages. If they are ok then it means that something else is the problem. By very careful if you are not sure of what you are doing maybe it's better to ask help from a friend or someone locally who can help you.
You need to open circuit the secondary of the transformer and then measure the voltage across it to figure if the transformer is dead or if it's the rectifier etc downstream loading it. Basica troubleshooting ...
How do you know which wires connect to the primary and which are secondary?
Of course, there is no real difference between the primary and secondary windings. It is relative to the where you connect the input. But, you can guess what is the actual primary by color code, usually the reds are HV, greens are 6.3V and so on and primary is black and white. You can also measure the resistance and the primary will usually be a lot higher than low voltage windings and the the B+ hv windings will usually be higher dc resistance than the primary. The safest would be to feed what you guess is the primary with a sine wave with 100mV and then measure the rest to make sure you didn't guess it wrong by getting too high a values. Then increase it to 1V and recheck and then finally to 5V and then measure the other taps and calculate the ratios.
If you smack it with a hammer on all four sides not real hard but hard enough he'll break a lot of them loose and you can get them out easier
Thanks for the tip, Mark, I will give it a try next time!
Mr D, got a Chromebook = no Excel. Any suggestions if I wished to get your spreadsheets? Google 'Sheets?' Thank you
Hi Joe, you should be able to use it with Google Docs:
support.google.com/chromebook/answer/2481498?hl=en
Thanks!
thanks for sharing, would boiling the transformer in water to disolve the wax help??? or would make it worse??
You could try heating it up in the oven or by a hot air gun, but I think that water would not be the best solution. Haven't tried it though. Thanks for stopping by!
Whats the frequency did you take for turns calculation?
For Europe I use 50 Hz.
Umm can you tell me the frequency of output transformer of speaker?
I really need it
@@soumikdas5857 Don't really understand what you are trying to say. This is a power transformer not an output transformer.
Very nice watching would like to see winding video also
Thank you! You can check out my other videos where I wind power and output transformers and go into more detail on that.
Hi I have a transformer that need to rewinding do you do that ? How can I get in contact with you?
Thank you 👍
I usually don't do it, only if it is a vintage Fender, Marshall or Vox output transformer and if you are in EU, because shipping and other issues make it problematic.You can contact me on my facebook page, check the links in the description.
great job!
Thank you!
Hi. When you need to rewind a transformer?
Say, the power adapter of a Famicom (a japanese Nintendo)?
Thank you. God bless, Proverbs 31
Hi SevenDeMagnus,
Well, you should measure the AC voltages at the output of the transformer, but you should have a basic knowledge of electronics and make sure you follow the safety precautions. Maybe it's just easier to get a replacement since these adapters usually use a tiny transformers which are impossible to rewind.
Doesn't the Famicom, like pretty much every home console from the time, have a 7805 voltage regulator right after the input? So it can take everything from 7.5V to 12V (just note that the higher the voltage, the more heat it gives off, so you'd want to stay between 7.5 and 10V). No need for a special PSU. The US/European NES has a rectifier, so it doesn't even care about polarity or if it's AC or DC. It should also be rated for at least 500mA (1000mA or more if you use fancy multicarts).
Note that if you're preserving the original PSU for originality's sake, this entire comment is pointless.
New subscriber here.
Thanks!
60hz to 50hz - means higher flux density and loss
does anyone does this in the US 🇺🇸? I need one done and I doubt I can do it on my own.
What exactly do you need? Usually it is easier and cheaper to just wind a new transformer or find one with the same specs. Unless it is some "holy grail" unit it is not worth it because in the US it would cost a lot.
Appreciated
Who's the girl on the title picture?
hi got you help me please
Seriously? You spent way more time on polishing the end bells than you did on actually WINDING the transformer!
This wasn't a tutorial on how to rewind a transformer, it was a tutorial on disassembling one.
Disassembling a transformer is the most difficult part when rewinding and reusing the transformer. Winding itself is the easiest part and is covered well in my other videos. You can check the other videos on winding power and output transformers in which I show the process of winding more closely.
@@Delatsch You keep saying that you have other videos more closely displaying that part of the process, but that's not why people came to this one. While what you said is true that disassembly is the hardest part, that fact doesn't do any good for the people who've already taken care of that, or don't need the help.
@@noaha8915 It's funny how 140 people understood the point, knew where and why they came and gave the thumbs up for all the hard work involved in making this and all the other videos. Instead of complaining and splitting hairs about the title you should at least encourage the creators. This is not a daily vlog where I talk nonsense, put five ads in the video and take sponsorships just to trick you into watching. I'm showing real practical aspects of many topics related to transformers that you can hardly find anywhere on the internet. I'm also doing my best in preparing new and better content so that the videos are worth watching and you can learn something from them. Is it so difficult to click couple of times and check out my other videos and find more information there?
Down load
Clickbait-ass cover frame 🤣
Skip a few parts man... Too slow. Thanks for uploading tho.
Thanks!
I call click bait.
And the award for most boring video on TH-cam goes to...
Thank you! I'm finally the first in something :)
bore fest
Did I at least help you fall asleep? :)