[Elecraft] winding toroids

[Mychael Morohovich]

 You do not want to pull the wire too tight when winding toroids...Copper 
wire is malleable and will stretch, possibly separating it from the enamel 
and allowing the enamel to flake off...  Jerry, wa2dkg
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In the thousands upon thousands of toroids that I have hand wound while 
supplying toroid sets to Elecraft builders, I have never personally had this 
problem. I have had the wire break on the occasion while trying to snug up a 
toroids lead using too much force for the gauge of wire with which I am 
working [try working with KSB2 toroids immediately after winding toroids for 
the KAT100 QRO tuner- hi!], but I have never had enamel flake off despite 
the fact that I sometimes exert enough hand force to break cores, 
particularly those using the heavier guage wire.

I think that it is important to realize, however, that these toroids do not 
have to be wound with their windings absolutely flat against their toroidal 
cores. Hand snug is plenty good for our HF applications and is all that is 
expected of the builder. As the Toroid Guy, I am supplying a professional 
service and therefore strive to provide toroids that are as perfect as 
possible in every way. Less than perfect toroids in terms of appearance- so 
long as the stripping and tinning is performed competently so as to assure 
good electrical connectivity when they are soldered to the PCB- will 
certainly suffice toward helping to get those kits on the air.

Happy Building!

Mychael AA3WF
K2 #1025