Build Your Own Doug Coil Machine Part 1

Build your ownBuild your own

Doug Coil MachineDoug Coil Machine

Easy to follow steps with clear explanations andEasy to follow steps with clear explanations andnumerous photographsnumerous photographs

Written by John Written by John StolarStolar

Professor of Geology/Astronomy (ret)Professor of Geology/Astronomy (ret)

And And Lyme Lyme victimvictim

DedicationDedication It is important to recognize the efforts of those rare individuals who make

a difference in the lives of large numbers of people.

I would like to dedicate this tutorial to two such people who helped manywho recovered their lives from pain and despair to having hope and light.

Doug MacLean designed what is now known as the “Doug Coil Machine”

and showed what could be achieved with ingenuity and amazing curiosity.

His discoveries are admired by many thousands who appreciate his

contributions to all of us.

John Propster designed the current model of the Doug Coil Machine and

touched lives that he could not possibly imagine.

Our gratitude to these exceptional individuals is well deserved.

Thank you, Doug and John, for making a difference.

Disclaimer pageDisclaimer page

Coil machines are not approved for the treatment of any disease or condition by theFederal Drug Administration or any other government, public, or private agency.

Coil machines are not recommended for use on humans since the effects have not beenfully researched and understood.

Women who are pregnant and anyone having a pacemaker should not use a coil

machine.

Precautions regarding electrical devices and magnetic fields should be taken.

Coil machines are for the purpose of experimental investigation into the effects ofelectromagnetic frequencies and magnetic fields.

Users having serious medical conditions should heed the advice of competent andtrained medical personnel. Do not substitute the use of a coil machine for competentmedical advice and counseling.

It should be understood that human biological responses to coil machines are not fullyknown.

It is understood that the user is responsible for experimental investigation and accepts allresponsibility for the use of this device.

The user cannot hold the author of this coil machine tutorial responsible for anyconsequences that may result from the building of this device.

IntroductionIntroduction

This presentation will organize the construction of a Doug coil machine

(DCM) in a logical series of steps and will provide detailed explanations andillustrate the steps with many sequential photographs of a DCM being built.A person with no electrical experience will be able to complete this projectsafely with some basic tools and common sense.

The tutorial took over 200 hours to complete. It contains 150+ photographs and 139 PowerPoint pages

covering all of the topics Involved in building a Doug Coil Machine. The purpose for producing such a thing is

to provide some aid to my fellow Lyme-infected sufferers - its my chance in life to do something good for a

large number of people, most of whom, unfortunately, I will never meet. Not many people get a chance like

this so for this reason, this CD will always be free.

The material in the tutorial can be shared, copied, and printed but cannot be included in part or its entirety in

any publication or in any other medium that will be sold. My point is to help people – not to take their money.

If you find that you don’t understand something in the tutorial or have questions, please feel free to email meat:

[email protected].

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsPages

5 Schematic of a DCM

6 - 8 Tools and Materials

9 - 14 Operating a DCM, Shutdown Procedure

15 - 20 Coils

21 - 40 Coil Winding Device, soldering speaker wire to the coil

41 - 43 Measuring your Coil’s Inductance

44 - 47 Multimeter

48 - 50 Amplifier

51 - 54 Switches

55 - 63 Capacitors

64 - 84 Making Capacitor Arrays

85 - 101 Connecting the Capacitor Arrays to the Switches

102 - 106 Resistors

107 - 108 Wave/Signal Generator

109 - 122 Coil Stand

123 - 129 Doug Coil Machine on a Cart

130 - 138 New and Alternate Ideas Section

139 Encouragement Page

Schematic of a DCMSchematic of a DCMsignal

generator

QSC1850HD amplifier (back)Channel 1

_

+

amplifier output

Channel 2

+

_

volt meter

amplifier input

barrier strip (screws) Channel 1 & 2 inputs

Mode Switchesall are off (push

sliders to the left)except for #4 and #5 parallel inputs

caparrays(2 areshown there are 15)

all otherswitches

all otherswitches

switch A

coil

12 ga..speaker wire

double binding post

connect top & bottom terminalswith 12 gauge wire loop

2 sets of5 resistors

each

wire nuts connecting2 coil wires and speaker wires

no caps on switch A

The Instek SFG 2004 signal generator comes with a cable that plugs into the

BNC jack on the bottom right of the generator and alligator clips on the other end. I cut the clips off and attached fork connectors. The red wire should be attached to Channel 1 + and the blackwire to the Channel 1 – terminals. Use a small wire loop to connect the – terminal and the ground terminals together.

A terminal block with two rows of 8 screws each (rated 20 amps) could be used here. See terminals blocks on P.137near the end of the tutorial.

Tools and MaterialsTools and Materials

• wire cutter and insulation stripper

• electrician’s pliers for twisting wires together

• needle-nosed pliers (for reaching where fingers can’t fit)

• electric soldering iron or gun

• Solder - rosin core, .062” diameter works well

• wire nuts: (2 yellow size for each coil) (3 large grey size) ( 20+/- red size)

• (3 blue – very large size for 5 or 6 (12 gauge wires). If you use terminal blocks instead you will need two

• double row, 8 screw blocks.

• 44 female spade connectors for 12 gauge wire

• wire connector crimping pliers

• cable ties 11” length (for banding the wire in a coil and for holding the coil to the stand)

• cable ties 7” length (for banding capacitors to mounts or to a panel - about 25 needed)

• cable tie mounting bases (for mounting capacitors and resistors but a !” plywood panel and cable ties works well)

• electric drill or drill press, 1/2”, 5/8, and 1” Forstner bits, Phillips driver bit

Wire stripper and cutterThis tool is specifically made for 12 gauge

wire. Other sizes are available but this may

the most important tool for this project so

to avoid much wasted time – get the 12 gauge

one.

Electrician’s pliers

Wire nuts

Blunt ends allow

for twisting 3+ wires

together

Soldering iron with temperature control and hot ironrest stand. Soldering is mostly done to securecapacitors together in a DCM. Cost is about $16. Check http://www.elexp.com for parts and tools

Soldering iron – no temp. control and no rest stand

Wire connector crimping tool. This does a much better job than regular pliers. Notice the bare wire inside the connector- the insulation should be stripped so the tinned metal sleeve is crimpedaround bare copper wire. Get female connectors that are madefor 10 or 12 gauge wire.

Operating the DCMOperating the DCM

Knowing how to operate the DCM before building it may help people understand howthe components work together.

1. Place the coil so the hole faces you. It can lean on something sturdy or can hangwith ties to the back of a wooden chair, etc. It can get hot (well over 100 F) so besure to keep plastic items away from the coil. Electrical tape can melt if used to holda coil together or to hold it in place while in use. Details are given later in this tutorialfor building a coil stand. Be sure to place the coil at least 6 or 8 feet away from TVs,stereos, computers, memory cards, digital cameras, and credit cards. The coil’smagnetic field may interfere with these things in addition to other things in your home.Plug the end of the 15 ft 12 gauge wire attached to the coil into the binding post jackson the DCM.

2. Turn the multimeter on and set the dial for V~ (volts AC current) and use the RANGEbutton to set the units shown on the LCD screen of the meter to V~ (not mV which ismillivolts). Be sure to dial the V~ for alternating current and not V---- for direct current.The manual helps here. The test lead wires coming out of the multimeter (withalligator clips to hold the test leads in place) must be placed at both sides of a set of 5resistors (see picture on next page) that are soldered together. Be sure to plug in theblack test lead wire into the black jack (or Com) in the multimeter and the red testlead in the red jack that has V next to it.

Two sets of five resistors each. The red alligator clip test leadIs attached to one side of a set of resistors and the black testlead is connected to the other side. Details on soldering the resistors together are given in the section on Resistors

This is how the meter should be setup to operate the DCM. Notice the positions of the red and black test leads. The dial is pointing to V~ and the “Range” button was pushed to get the decimal behind the first zero since the meter will read 1.500 volts when the DCM is in use.

1. Turn on the signal generator and input a frequency such as 432 and pushthe Hertz button. Push the “Wave “ button to get the curvy sine curve icon.Push “Shift” and “8” to get the -20db icon. This subtracts current from theinput to the amplifier so the “Ampl” knob is much less sensitive and can beadjusted better. The generator is now outputting waves of the frequency youchose. You could check this by setting your multimeter dial to Hz and usingits test lead wires to touch the end of the red lead and the black lead wire.When you use a frequency from about 800Hz you will need to remove the -20db function or the meter may not be able to reach 1.5 volts when themachine is operating.

2. Turn on the amplifier with its rocker switch – be sure that the 2 volume dialson the front of the amplifier are turned counter clockwise to zero.

3. Flip the correct toggle switches up to the ON position to set the requiredcapacitance for the frequency you chose. (See the section on capacitors)

4. Turn both amplifier dials clockwise to the maximum position

5. Turn the “Ampl” knob up on the signal generator until the reading on theLCD multimeter display reads 1.5 volts. The coil machine is ready to use. Ithums fairly loudly. The coil heats up in time so if the phone rings – let itring. If the red clip lights on the amplifier ever go on turn the “AMPL”

knob CCW to lower the current.

The coil can get hot so it should be on a stand that you can hold or get closeto. It is recommended that you have a fan blowing on the coil for coolingpurposes and for ventilation. The plastic insulation on the wire in the coilcan emit fumes if the coil exceeds 235 F. so be sure to be in a wellventilated room – a closet would not be suitable.

6. When you finish with one frequency and want to choose another, turn the“AMPL” knob off and both gain knobs on the amplifier counterclockwise tozero. Don’t change capacitor toggle switches when the amplifier volumedials are anywhere other than zero. This prevents overloading thecapacitors with electric current.

7. Pull capacitance toggle switches down to the off position and turn on the

new set of switches for the new frequency. (see the freq cap calculator onthe CD).

8. Repeat the procedure on the signal generator but with the new frequency

9. Turn up both amplifier volume dials to maximum, turn the signal generator

volume dial so the multimeter again reads 1.5 volts.

10. That’s it – you just repeat the procedure for another frequency.

You will notice that a fan in the amplifier begins running at a higher speed afew minutes into the use of the coil. This is normal to control overheating ofthe amplifier. If the heating is more than the fan can handle the amplifierstops its output of current to the coil and shuts down until cooled and thenrestarts automatically – you can resume using the coil at that point.

Shutdown ProcedureShutdown Procedure

Shutdown is simply the reverse of the steps you do to operate the DCM

Turn the “AMPL” knob off, Turn the amplifier gain knobs off(counterclockwise all the way)

Flip capacitor toggle switches to off (in the down position) however theswitches can be left on but it is advised to check that the correct switchesare turned on

Turn both the multimeter and signal generator off.

Keep the amplifier on for a few minutes to cool. The air coming out of thefront of the amplifier will be warm or hot at first. Push the rocker switch tooff after the air feels cool.

CoilsCoils

Insulated copper wire coils are used to produce magnetic fields thatchange the positions of the magnetic poles at different frequencies.For instance at a frequency of 432 Hz the magnetic poles changeposition 432 times per second

Coils differ from one another in various ways such as 1. different size (gauge) insulated wire, DCM coils use 12 gauge insulated solid copper wire. The copper is 2mm in diameter and

with the insulation it is 3mm in diameter. 2. different thickness of wire insulation 3. different width and thickness of coil dimensions (width and thickness) 4. variation in tightness of wraps

A general rule is that the more wire you can get into a coil of a givenvolume, the higher the coil’s inductance will be.

• An electrical measurement that is important for building a DCM is theinductance of the coil. Inductance for our purpose is not important tounderstand in depth but a short definition is that inductance is the ability of acoil carrying an electric current to resist a change in the current flowingthrough the coil. Another way to understand inductance is that it is ameasure of the amount of copper in a cross section of a coil if the coil couldbe cut across the wires. Coils that have an alternating (the current travels ina wave form) electric current running through them produce an alternatingmagnetic field. Moving electric current (charged particles) automaticallyproduces a magnetic field. Even hot gas becomes charged and producesvery strong magnetism due to movement of the gas as in the surface of thesun.

• The reason Inductance is important is that it is related mathematically tofrequency and capacitance. If we know two of these values we cancalculate the third one.

• For example when make a coil you physically measure its inductance withyour multimeter. This gives you one of the values needed. You choosewhat frequency to generate with your signal generator – so now you havetwo of the values. A calculator program supplied on this CD will allow youto get the desired capacitance so you can turn on the correct capacitors togenerate an alternating magnetic with your coil.

• Most coil machine builders have one coil. This coil with an inductance of 7to 8 millihenries (mh) will easily produce alternating magnetic fields fromabout 20 pole reversals per second to about 2000. The unit of frequency isHertz where 1 Hertz is one pole reversal per second. To have higherfrequencies you will need a coil of lower inductance approximately in therange of 4 to 5 mh. Overheating of the amplifier is the result of attemptingto generate higher frequency with a high inductance coil (you should use alow inductance coil for the frequencies over approximately 2000 Hz.

You can try all of this out on the calculator by typing in various frequenciesand inductances to see how capacitance changes

How do you make a coil of lower inductance? less wire - accomplished byless width and thickness of your coil (assuming you still have tightwindings).

• For example – a coil I wrapped with 12 gauge solid, insulated THNN wire(available in 500 foot spools at all Lowe’s and Home Depot stores) thatmeasures 2 inches wide and 1.5 inches thick, wound very tightly, measuredan inductance of 8.51 mh. This coil has 12 layers of wire in the 1.5 inchthickness and 16 rows of wire in the 2 inch width. It contains approximately425 - 450 feet of wire. The coil was wrapped around a 6 inch form(described in detail in later slides) so the finished coil has a 6 inch diameterhole in its center. The outside diameter of the entire coil is 9 inches.

•

A coil wrapped with the same gauge wire on the same form and measuring 1.5”in thickness and 1.75” in width has an inductance of 7.20 mh. This coil has 15layers on wire in the 1.5” of thickness and 13 rows of wire in the 1.75” of width.This coil has the 6” diameter hole and 9” outside diameter Another coilwrapped with the same gauge wire on the same form but this time the widthand thickness both are 1 3/8” now has an inductance of 2.98 mh. This coil has11 layers of wire in the 1 3/8” thickness and 11 rows of wire in the 1 3/8” ofwidth. This coil has the 6” diameter hole and 9” outside diameter. A coil that istoo large in width and thickness and tightly wound could have an inductance of12 mh or more and prove to be useless for higher frequencies.

What matters is that you end up with a coil of about 7 to 8 mh if you intend tohave only one coil. If your coil comes out slightly higher or lower, it doesn’tmatter significantly because the capacitors you will switch on for a particularfrequency will change with the inductance of the coil you make. That isprecisely why this tutorial cannot supply you with a list of capacitor switches touse for a given frequency you wish to generate since your personal coildetermines this factor.You don’t have to calculate anything since there is a calculator programon this CD that will calculate everything you need. It is all very easy.

Measuring Inductance with a Multimeter

Notice the position of the dial. It is pointing to the mHsymbol (Henry is the unit of measure for inductance).Also notice that the red test lead is plugged into thefar left red socket labeled with an H. The coils are not connected to a coil machine in these pictures. The magnetic field is very strong in the hole area of the coil

and would produce heating in any metallic objectplaced there – your meter would be ruined.

Coil dimensions and InductanceCoil dimensions and Inductance(all coils have 6(all coils have 6”” diameter holes and are wrapped with 12 gauge THNN solid copper wire) diameter holes and are wrapped with 12 gauge THNN solid copper wire)

coil size layers of wire rows of wire inductance

1 3/8” thick x 1 3/8” wide 11 layers 11 rows 2.98 mH

1 3/8” thick x 1 !” wide 12 layers 12 rows 4.39 mH

1 "” thick x 2” wide 11 layers 15 rows 7.01 mH

1.5” thick x 1.75” wide 15 layers 13 rows 7.20 mH

1.5” thick x 2’ wide 12.5 layers 16 rows 8.49 mH

1.5” thick x 2” wide 12 layers 16 rows 8.51 mH

These coils were wrapped over a 3 week period. It seems apparent that there must be some variation in either the thickness of the

insulation on the wire or of the tension on the wire during wrapping. It is assumed that the copper wire is the same diameter. The

spool winder was very rigid and is not a factor in introducing extra rows in some coils. Three of the coils are 2” wide but one coil

has

an extra row. Wire tension during winding has more of an effect on the number of layers than on the number of rows so this is one

of those things to ponder( I suspect that if wraps nestle in between the wire wraps below them throughout the coil you will get a

higher inductance coil than if layers of wire sit exactly on top of the wires in the layer below). Some of each happens in every coil.

The 8.49 mH coil had 13 layers but I removed half of the last layer to get the inductance down from 9.58 to 8.49 mH. I removed the

wire foot by foot and checked the inductance continually. It was surprising how much the inductance changed with the removal of

just a few wraps of wire.

Coil Winding DeviceCoil Winding Device There are many good ways to wrap insulated solid copper wire tightly

enough to make a good coil. I wrapped 50+ coils in seven months with thedevice I made and of course the last one is better than the first. I decidedthat I needed firm sides on the form I would wrap the wire upon. Thatdecision eliminated anything that would flex with pressure so I used !” thick(actually .707 inches thick and not .75”) birch plywood. A series of picturesillustrating the making of the winding device is on the next slides.

The first step was to use a compass to draw a 6” diameter circle on the birchplywood. A 9” diameter circle was drawn using the same center point as forthe 6” circle. This resulted in two concentric circles. I drew a line across thelargest circle and through the center point and then drew lines 15 degreesapart (I used a plastic protractor) from the center of both circles out to the 6”circle. Thirty 3/8” holes would be drilled at these15 degree intervals alongthe inside of the 6” circle. It is necessary to only draw the circles and lineson one of the plywood pieces since they will be taped together so the drillingof 3/8” holes results in two identical pieces.

I used a band saw to cut out the circles (you cut on the outside of the line ofthe 9” circle).

These are 8 areas where slots will be cut to hold the cable ties that will eventually hold the wire coil together. It’s a nice way to have the ties held in place while winding wire. The birch plywood is stained because it was a shelf from a large TV cabinet I made. I got a larger TV and didn’t need the cabinet any more.

These are 15 degree spaces on the 6”circle. A 3/8” hole will be drilled inside the 6 inch circle at the end of each line. Thedrilled holes will all be inside the 6” circleand not cross over into the space betweenthe6” and 9” circles. The center of each3/8” hole should be on the lines pointed to bythe blue arrow.

The holes are completely inside the 6” circle.The dowels that are placed in the holes will formthe surface that the wire is wound upon. Note thatthe disks are taped together so they can be drilledtogether.

The dark holes are charred wood caused bya dull drill bit. Its easy to see what a sharpdrill bit does on the other holes. The sharp bit I used is a brad point wood drill bit. It has a pointedtip which makes it easy to see where the center of the hole will be when the bit is turning in the drill.

Both plywood circles were drilled at the same time. To do otherwise would make it impossible to join the two disks together with dowels.

The disks must be in the orientation shown. To assemble,the disk on the right will end up on the outside of the winding spool and the surface of the disk on the left will be on the inside of the winding spool. The arrows show thealignment of the disks when they were taped and drilled.

• e

The grooves were cut with a radial arm saw but there are other ways to cut the grooves – but none as easy as with a radial arm saw. A sharp chisel would work but it would be slow. The blade is raised otherwise I would cut the disk into pieces. Since the saw blade teeth are 1/8” wide and the cable ties that will go Into the grooves are wider, you need to make several cuts to fit the ties. A groove slightly large is better than a groove that is too narrow. The depth of each groove is slightly deeper than a cable tie is thick. Notice how these grooves are between the holes. This is so the cable ties can slide easily in the grooves.

Drill a 5/8 inch hole for a dowelor iron rod so the winding spool can easily turn.

I highly recommend oak 3/8” dowel rods (fromHome Depot). The are tough and will take the hammeringrequired to assemble the winding spool for winding acoil and taking it apart to get the wire coil off. I waxed them with bees wax to make them easier to use. The dowels are 3 !” long. This length allows them tobe firmly in each disk and to have 2” of spacebetween disks for winding a 2” wide wire coil. If you want to wind wider coils – make the dowelsrespectively longer.

beeswax

The winding spool is assembled. I recommend driving the dowelsInto a disk as it sits on a firm surface. A rubber hammer will not dent and destroy your wood disks and dowels like a metal hammer will soon do. After all the dowels are in the first disk as shown to the left, it is a littletricky to get the second disk started onto the dowels. If you slightly tilt the second disk you can get a few dowels started into the holes of the second disk and just slowly work your way around the perimeter. You will have to use your fingers to force some dowels into alignment. Don’t hammer on the outer rim – it might break – hammer inside of the ring of the dowel holes

The head of this rubber hammer is filled with lead shot. The inertia of the shotgives solid hits.

All of the dowels are inserted into the holes and are flush with the other side of this disk

Notice the dowels are sticking out of what was the top diskshown in the previous picture. If the dowels would be flush with both disks, the gap between the disks would be 2” wide for a 2” wide wire coil.

Since I wanted to wind a 1 3/8” wide coil, I placed 4 woodblocks exactly 1 3/8” long between the plywood disks andthen I used the rubber hammer to drive the diskstogether. That is why the dowels are sticking out of the diskIn this picture. Remove the blocks and you are ready to winda coil.

A length of !” steel rod makes a good axle but awood dowel would be fine. The distance betweenthe dowel rods in the gap between the disks out to the outside edge of the disks is 1 !” so the wire coil will be 1 !” thick.

grooves for the cable ties

10”

1 1/2”

This is one cable tie, the lockingsocket on the right end and thetongue end on the left. It loops downbetween the dowels and is held inplace in the grooves. I used 11”cable ties because 8” ties are not long enough to pull tight easily.

This the roll of wire thatwill be wound onto the winding spool to make the wire coil.

The coil winding spool. Iused 3” long screwsthrough the 2x4 bottom of each wire roll stand and into the end of the 2x4 uprightpieces. This is simply a U-shaped structure.

10”

2 !”

Clamp to holdwire roll holder

7 " “

A small hole is drilled here to secure theend of the wire to start the coil. Without this hole the stiff 12 gauge wire could not be pulled tightenough to start the first layer of wire

Cable ties in groovesThe first wrap - the start ofa good coil is based on havingtight layers and rows.

Once you start to wind a coil you can’t stopunless you keep a piece of duct tape handy and can tape down the wire on your coil – it will unwind for several layers if you release the tension

The wire is wound inch by inch with constant tension with the fingers to keep the wraps tight. There is nothing fast about this part. Try not to impart bends in the wire bythe finger or fingers that “lay” the wire in place. I used my right index finger to lay the wire in place while turning the spoolwith my left hand. You will find that you need to pry wraps of wire to get a tight row and to get the last wrap of the row tight against the plywood. I used a screwdriver with a flat bladedend to pry gently – great care must be taken to not cut the insulation of the wire. I used a small wood block to push the wiredown into the space created.

The coil is finished. Now the cable ties can be tightened.You can cut the wire off leaving about 10” remaining.

Push the socket end of the cable tie down into the groove in the wood disk so about !” of the tie sticks up above the wire. Put the tongue end into the socket and pull to the left so the cable is tight. Don’t over do it with the tightening as the tie can cut the insulation. The cable tie in this picture has not been tightened yet. The cable tie in the background has been pulled and tightened. You can trim the excess length off all cable ties.

Use an oak dowel and a rubber hammer to drive thedowels one by one through the top plywood disk. Sand or file this dowel (at least the first 1 !” or so) so itdoesn’t stick in the hole

Hang the edge of the spool over the edge of a work table or other solidsurface and hammer the dowels through the top disk Once about 10 of the dowels are sticking out on the other side of the spool – you can then just balance the entire spool on those dowels to hammer the rest of the dowels out without hanging the spool over the edge of the workbench.

All of the dowels are now through thetop plywood disk.

The work is almost finished. Ittook 45 minutes to wrap thiscoil. After making 50 coils I canwrap the wire for a coil in 11minutes.

Pry the coil off of the dowels with your fingers. If you can’t budge the wire coil you will need to hammer some dowels (hammer them to the left in this picture) so they clear the coil for removal.

This is a fairly low inductance coil. It is 1 3/8”wide and 1 !” thick.

The inductance is 4.39 micro henries (4.39mh) and will be used for frequencies over 2000 Hz.

Adding wire to a coilAdding wire to a coil

Let’s assume that you finished wrapping a coil and have cut the wire coming from the original roll of wire. Upon using your multimeter you find that the inductance of the coil is 5.6 mh and you were expecting a value closer to 7.6 mh.What to do is a question you will ask to no one in particular as you worry about having to buy another roll of wire.

The next pictures show a simple jig you can make in a few minutes that will allow you to splice the wire back onto the coil and continue wrapping to get a thicker coil and therefore a higher inductance coil.

This jig is very simple. Start with a block of wood and screw two strips of wood to the block. The gap between the strips should be about 1 !”. You should pre drill the screw holes so you don’t split the strips. The strips should be at least !” thick. Cut two more identical strips and clamp one to each strip and drill holes through both strips. Put arrows on the top strip to show the orientation when both were drilled so you can reattach them. It helps to have A and B or 1 and 2 on the top strips also. Cut a groove across the top strips that is wide enoughfor 12 gauge wire but not as deep as the wire is thick so the wire can be clamped and held down when you screw the strips together.

Its difficult to see in this picture but the end of the wire has been cut at less than a 45 degree angle (cut the wire at a very shallow angle,placed in the groove and the wood strip has been screwed to the strip below to hold the wire in place.

The wire stripper/cutter tool is ideal for cutting this angle. Regularwire cutters can’t cut as nice an angle since they are designedfor just cross cutting.

The wire shown is the end of the coil wire that needs to be extended.

The second wire has been angled and screwed downby its wood strip holder. Use needle nosed pliers to formthe joint so it is as smooth a transition as possible.

Be sure to slip a piece of heat shrink tubing onto one of thewires before placing them in the jig.

Use about a 3” length of a strand of stranded copper wire and tightly wrap thestrand around the splice. You can see how small the bump is where the two wiresmeet. A large lump here would make your coil have a lump.

Here is the soldered joint. It is very strong and willallow you to continue to wrap a thicker coil. Here the wires are out of the clamp.

Shown is a piece of heat shrink tubing that is long enough tooverlap the wire insulation on both sides. The last step is tocarefully heat the tubing with a propane torch, a candle, ora lighter so it shrinks around your solder joint. Don’t over doit since you certainly don’t want to melt the wire insulation.Ifyou forget the heat shrink tubing you will have to cut thejoint off and start over.

Soldering banana plugs to the coilSoldering banana plugs to the coil’’s 15 ft. speaker wires 15 ft. speaker wire

Banana plugs – 12 gauge speaker wire is soldered into the end of each plug. These are available at Radio Shack. There is a small screw-inadapter for smaller wire that I removed anddiscarded.

Since the flanged ends of the banana plugs are delicate you should not squeeze them with pliers. Here I used pliers andtaped the handles together with just enough pressure to hold theplug so it can be soldered.

Heat the end of the banana plug with the solderingiron. Hold the roll in the other hand and insert the endof the solder into the hole carefully so it melts and almost fills the hole. While the solder is molten insertthe end of one of speaker wires (strip about 3/8”of the insulation) into the hole and hold there untilthe solder hardens (about 10 seconds).

It is easy to forget to put the red or blackplastic pieces onto the wire before soldering. Once the metal plug is soldered to the wire, the plastic insulator cannot be put on the wire. Whenthe metal plugs cool, turn the plastic insulator onto thethreaded plugs. The other ends of the speaker wires are connected to the two wires on the coil. It doesn’t matter which of the coil wires are attached to the red or black banana plugs, in fact you don’t need red black plug covers at all since any color will work fine.

Measuring your coilMeasuring your coil’’s Inductances Inductance

There are two ways to measure the inductance of the coilyou wrapped.

The first method is to simply buy a multimeter that canmeasure inductance. Since you will need a meter that alsomeasures alternating current accurately to monitor thecurrent flowing through the coil when in use, having the samemeter measure inductance is very handy. The meter willhave an H and mH on the dial for Inductance (measured inHenries

• If you already have a True RMS multimeter you can measure your coil’sinductance another way to avoid buying a meter that measures Inductance.Your DCM must be operable to use this method since you need to turn it onto measure your coil’s Inductance.

• Turn on the signal generator and set it for 470 Hz sine wave output.

• Turn on the 16 µf capacitor switch.

• Turn on your multimeter with the alligator clip lead wires connected to eachset of 5 resistors – set dial to V~ for alternating current.

• Turn on the amplifier and turn the 2 gain dials until the yellow lights come on

• Turn the large dial (clockwise or counterclockwise) on the signal generatorto change the frequency up or down to get the highest voltage reading onyour multimeter you can get. Record the frequency you dialed on the signalgenerator when the multimeter reaches the highest voltage

• You can calculate the inductance with the formula below. .(the Inductance will be in

Henries which means that you will need to move the decimal place 3 places to the right to change the unit to milliHenries – You can

now use the Excel freq cap switch calculator on the CD by typing in the Inductance to get the switches that need to be turned on for a

frequency you choose.)

• Inductance = 25330/Freq2 X 1/capacitance

You can use the following formula to calculate the capacitance you need for

each frequency you want to generate if you choose to do the calculations

manually.

Capacitance = 25330/Freq2 Inductance

The capacitance will be in microfarads, the frequency should be in Hertz, and

the Inductance should be in Henries. An excellent calculator can also be

found at www.opamplabs.com/cfl.htm.

The above calculation can be done with the Excel calculator

program called “freq cap calculator” given on the CD.

MultimeterMultimeter

A well built meter is the Wavetek Meterman 37XR. I purchased one from

Electronix Express at 1-800-972-2225 or at

http://www.elexp.com/tst_38xr.htm. An online search will produce many

other meters for lower prices, I chose to get one that also measures

inductance and because I like to buy tools. Meters are constantly discontinued

and relabeled so don’t get locked into buying a particular model.

I recommend searching online for best prices and free shipping. Goggle

removed the Froogle option but you can still sort items by price. Do a search

by model number and click the hypertext “Products” or “Shopping” at the top

left of the page. Click in the menu bar “by lowest price” and you will see

what is available. Sometimes searching like this is not absolute. I have

searched for an item with a opened catalog next to me and searches many

times don’t include the company whose catalog I have or their price.

One of the basic differences between expensive and the lowest cost

multimeters is that the ranges of things like voltage will be limited in thecheapest meters. For example the range of voltage may be half as large ona low cost meter. The number of functions that you can measure is largeron the more expensive models also. Measuring inductance is great if youbuild coils but the price of a meter that measures inductance just one time isprobably not necessary.

Shown is an example of meter at http://elexp.com/tst_205e.htm. There are

literally hundreds of meters that you can buy.

Range button moves the decimalpoint

Plug the red test wire into this jack if you want tomeasure the inductanceif your coil – note the HFor Henries.

This is the dial setting forvoltage – alternating current Dial setting for measuring the inductance

of your coil (microhenries)

The black test wire plugs in here

The red test wire is plugged in here when measuring voltage

AmplifierAmplifier• The amplifier in the DCM is used to boost the power input to the coil. The

amplifier of choice among coil machine builders is the QSC RMX1850HD. TheHD represents “heavy duty.” The maximum power output is 1800 watts. Themaximum output of contact and other frequency devices is approximately 2 to10 watts. This amplifier is loaded with circuit protection electronics so the risk ofoverheating damage is reduced. It would be prudent to search for this amplifieronline and find the best current price. Many times shipping is free. Whensearching you will find that many sites do not use the RMX in the name for theamplifier – just QSC1850HD. The cost of this amplifier represents about 36% ofthe total cost to build a DCM

Run 12 gauge wire from here to one of the terminals of the binding post mounted on the switch panel. The coilplugs into the binding post.

Run 12 gauge wire from here to the firstset of 5 resistors

Run wire from here to the second setof 5 resistors (the side closest to theamplifier). You can screw the plasticinsulator out and fit 2 – 12 gauge wiresin the hole in the shaft (note that the top black terminal will have 2 wires connectedto it. The 2 red and other black terminalsonly have one wire connected there.

This is a bank of smallslider switches. Slide allto the OFF position (left)except for the 2 switches labeled “parallel input #4 and #5 to the ON position (right).

These terminals must be connected together with a piece of 12 gauge wire.

. barrier strip (screws)The red wire from the signal generator cable is attached toto the top screw, the black wire from the signal generatorcable is attached to the 2nd screw and a wire loop must be used to connect the 2nd and 3rd screws together. This mean that the2nd screw down has two wires connected to it..

The input from a signal generator to the QSC185HD cannot be greater than1.16 volts RMS (Root Mean Squared) or 3.34 volts peak to peak accordingto the manual. If you use a signal generator other than the Instek SFG2004 model be sure that the lowest output is as low as possible. The Instek2004 lowest output is .1Hz which means that the lowest voltage output isalso very low. A better situation would be to have the lowest output be 0Hzwhich would mean that the lowest voltage output is also zero.

RMS means that the entire sine wave is sampled and can be measured byTrue RMS multimeters. You can usually choose the voltage output of yoursignal generator - it can vary from some minimum value to as much as10vand is measured peak to peak which is not the same thing as RMS voltage.The peak to peak voltage is greater than the RMS voltage by a factor of2.88. You cannot choose the minimum voltage output of your signalgenerator.

SwitchesSwitches

You can use regular house wall switches used for lights, etc. - they

require more space than toggle switches but they are much less expensive. I

chose to use toggle switches to reduce the size of the switch bank on the front

panel of my DCM and am very pleased with the result.

Toggle switch

wall switch

The toggle switches I used for this tutorial were purchased from Action

Electronics.http://www.action-lectronics.com/switches.htm?zoom_highlight=toggle+switches#Standard

I used the heavy duty 20 amp switch # 30-305 for this project but used #30-310

for my first DCM. I recommend the #30-310 or the switch listed below which is

the lowest cost switch I found online.

http://www.alliedelec.com/Catalog/Indices/MfrLandingPage.asp?N=4294931389&Supplier=Carling_Technologies&sid=46C788005FB8E17

F

The part number is 683-0049. This is the same company where I purchased the capacitors.

This is the back of the switch panel. I used tape to apply the switch labels to aid in wiring. Since each capacitor array is labeled with letters B thru P, it makes sense to label the switches also.Since my DCM structure is a cart, this panel will be secured on the second shelf of the cart.

An alternative to the cart is shown in the last section of the tutorial – a frame and panel cabinet.

This the front of the switch panel. Each switch should be labeled with thecapacitance and the letter A thru P. The red and black plugs on the left arethe binding posts where the coil is plugged in for use. A Word documenton the CD called “cap switch labels” prints a set of labels for you.

Shown are two banana plugsthat will be soldered onto the endsof the speaker wires connectedto the coil. Each coil has its own15 feet of speaker wire andbanana plugs.

The binding post. The !” plywood switchpanel ends up between the red and blackplates shown on the right. The switches andbinding posts are designed for panels up to!” in thickness or thinner.

CapacitorsCapacitors

• A capacitor is an electronic device that stores an electric charge to a certainlevel and then releases it. Capacitance, or the amount of current that isstored, is measured in farads or in our case with the DCM in microfarads(1/1,000,000th of 1 farad). The DCM uses 15 capacitor combinations ofsingle capacitors or combinations of capacitors that are connected to 15switches – altogether 26 capacitors are used. There are really 16 switchesbut one is not connected to any capacitors (switch A). The switches arelabeled with the capacitance value of the capacitors connected to thatswitch and by letters A through P. A Microsoft Word document is providedon this CD that when printed will provide you with labels for your switches (aglue stick is a good way to stick the labels to the panel your switches aremounted on).

• Capacitors are used in the DCM to store and release electric charge whichproduces the alternating magnetic field in the coil. The capacitor voltage is180 degrees out of phase with the voltage output of the amplifier and whenthese voltages are equal you have achieved resonance in the coil. Thismeans that the two voltages cancel each other out which produces themagnetic field and resistance which results in the heating of the coil.

A resonating coil is necessary in the DCM which is the reason for usingcapacitors. Connecting capacitors together can be done in parallel or seriesconnections. Imagine a train composed of many individual cars or units.The front of each car is connected to the back of the car in front –connecting capacitors in this manner would be a series of capacitors. Nowimagine that two trains are next to each other on their separate tracks. Nowif the front of a car in train 1 is connected to the front of a car in train 2 ( thebacks are connected also) you would have created train cars in parallel –connecting capacitors in this way produces parallel capacitors.

Adding the capacitance values of capacitors in series is different thanadding them in parallel circuits. If you use the capacitors given in thistutorial you will not have to calculate capacitance values since they aregiven. If you decide to add additional capacitors to your DCM such as largecapacitors to generate lower frequencies or very small capacitancecapacitors to generate higher frequencies, you will need to calculatecapacitance values.

• If you only use the capacitors given in this tutorial you can skip this slide,but if you put different capacitors in your DCM or are curious – read on.

• Adding capacitance of parallel capacitors is simple – just add them together.

• For example: if you have capacitors of 16 µf and .062 µf connected inparallel, the capacitance of this array is 16.062 µf. Your label on theswitch connected to this array of capacitors should be labeled 16.062 µf.

• If you have capacitors in series – train cars in a line - the adding ofcapacitance values is done differently. For example: if you have 3capacitors each of 3µf capacitance in series – the total capacitance is:

• Total Cap. = (1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3) = 3/3 or 1 µf The toggle switch connected tothis series of capacitors should be labeled 1µf.

• Why do I need to have some capacitors in series and others in parallelmode?

• The answer is that you need to have a list of enough capacitances to addtogether and be able to match any capacitance required by any frequencyyou choose. A DCM cannot actually produce all frequencies by turningcapacitors on, just those between approximately 230 Hz +/- and 2000 Hz+/-. The +/- means that your coil’s inductance will determine how far above2000 and below 230 you will attain.

• For example: If you choose to generate a frequency of 625 HZ you wouldneed a capacitance of 7.619 µf with an 8.51 mh coil, but what if you onlyhad 5 capacitors connected to 5 switches with capacitance values of 16, 8,4, 2, and .1 µf. You would not have the right capacitances to add togetherto have a total of 7.619 µf. So capacitors are connected together so youcan attain enough capacitance values that allow you to match almost anycapacitance needed for the frequencies the DCM can produce. It would bepossible and perhaps useful to expand the list with additional capacitors andswitches to “fill in the gaps” of the list but when you actually use your DCMyou’ll find that the capacitance list is very adequate.

So to answer the question again – you

need a variety of capacitances so their

values cover the range of the ones you

need for your required frequencies. The

list on the right is very adequate for a

DCM.

For example: Examine this list of the

capacitances used in this tutorial for the

building of a coil machine. If you choose

a frequency that required a capacitance

of 2.662 µf you would have to turn on the

switches with capacitances of 2, .5, .122,

.033, and .007 to give a total of 2.662 µf.

You would flip the toggle switches F,H,J,

L, and O to the up or on position.

.

• 30 µf B

• 16 µf C

• 8 µf D

• 4 µf E

• 2 µf F

• 1 µf G

• .5 µf H

• .25 µf I

• .122 µf J

• .062 µf K

• .033 µf L

• .015 µf M

• .010 µf N

• .007 µf O

• .005 µf P

Here is a photo of the front of a coil machine. Notice that there are 16

toggle switches each labeled with the capacitance of the capacitors

connected to that switch. If you add all the switch capacitance values you get a

total of 62uf. A frequency requiring a greater capacitance than 62uf cannot be

done by using the switches. Instead you can use the A switch alone for any

Frequency lower than about 230Hz that requires a capacitance higher than

62uf.

This is the binding postwhere you plug in the coil

switches A - H

switches I - P

Switch Labels – The CD contains a Word document titled “cap switch “labels”

that will print a set of labels for your 16 switches

A no cap K .062µf

B 30µf L .033µf

C 16µf M .015µf

D 8µf N .01µf

E 4µf O .007µf

F 2µf P .005µf

G 1µf

H .5µf

I .25µf

J .122µf

Making capacitor arraysMaking capacitor arrays

There are 16 toggle switches on a typical DCM and are each connected tosingle capacitors or capacitors in series or parallel connections. Toggleswitch A is the only switch not connected to any capacitors. When it isturned on all the other capacitors are inactive. In the next slides we willbuild 2 mounting platforms for all of the capacitor circuits. These platformsare nothing more than two pieces of birch plywood that are held in anupright position on a shelf. This provides a large amount of surface area forspacing of the capacitors without needing very much flat surface area as inshelves. The picture on the next page shows the upright panels with all ofthe capacitors attached on the second shelf of the first cart I made. Youcould easily eliminate the cart and build a box or cabinet structure that couldhold the capacitor panels. The most important feature is that the switchesmust be mounted on a !” thick panel so they can be wired to thecapacitors. A panel for the switches could also just be supported by framingwood – the switch panel must be 1/4” thick to accommodate the toggleswitches and binding post.

To start building capacitor arrays I cut two panels (15” x 9”) of birch plywoodleft over from another project. There is nothing special about this panel sizeexcept that everything fits on the 4 available sides and there is adequatespace between all components.

Back of the binding post. The coilplugs in on the front (the other side)of this panel

The two panels are shown here. The far left panel has the 2 setsof resistors on the hidden side. This is a view from the back of the cart so the switches are all just to the left of the binding post

This wire is going from the left terminal of the binding postto the negative output terminalon the back of the amplifier which is on the shelf below.

Velleman

Soldering Station

Model VTSS5U

http://www.elexp.com/sdr_ss5u.htm

This is an example of an inexpensive soldering iron with temperature control from 374 to 896 F. A handy featureis the black tube for holding the hot iron when you are busy getting the next connection ready.

This is .062” rosin core solder and is a good size to use for this project. Shown is a 1 pound spool but much less is required to do all the soldering for a DCM. I got this spool at Radio Shack. Make sure that you get non-leadsolder (which is tin and antimony).

Cable ties and cable tie mounting bases (Home Depot and Lowe’s). You could eliminate these bases by simply drilling holes in the plywoodpanels and using cable ties to hold the capacitors in place.

In a setting with children or pets you might consider building a box so all

electrical components are out of view. Some wires are not insulated such as

the ones attached to capacitors and resistors. These are bare and electrified

when the coil machine is in use plus capacitors store electric charge and may

be dangerous to touch well after you turn the components off You may have to

wrap protective insulating tape around these wires. A cart with exposed

electrified wires would not be a good idea if children have access to the cart.

The only items that gets warm are the two sets of resistors. None of the

capacitors have gotten warm with use of the coil machine.

As many doug coil builders did before me, I used the standard 26 capacitors given in this list. I ordered them from

Allied Electronics at www.alliedelec.com.

The total order quantities and part numbers are given below.

1 - #225-5010

3 - #591-7045

1 - #591-7025

2 – #591-4205

3 - #591-4200

2 - #591-6085

2 - #591-6075

1 - #591-6175

1 - #591-6165

1 - #591-6160

1 - #591-6155

5 - #591-6150

3 - #591-6145

The list given on the next page shows the capacitors that will be connected to each toggle switch . I recommendthat you do not dump all the capacitors out of their bags when the box arrives. Each bag is labeled with the part #and each capacitor is labeled with the capacitance but not the part #. I found it much easier to search through thebags for the part number – then remove that capacitor, search any others that belong in that connection – connectthe capacitors, mount them to the shelf, panel, or whatever you are using and then go to the next array. Themajority of the switches have only one capacitor in the circuit so the term “array” may not strictly apply ascommonly used.

These capacitors can beordered fromwww.alliedelec.com

591-61452 / 0.01 µf in series .005 µfP

591-61502 / 0.015 µf in series .007 µfO

591-61451 / one capacitor used .01 µfN

591-61501 / one capacitor used .015 µfM

591-61601 / one capacitor used .033 µfL

591-61501 / 0.015 µf

591-61651 / 0.047 µf in parallel with .062 µfK

591-61551 / 0.022 µf

591-61751 / 0.1 µf in parallel with .122 µfJ

591-61501 / 0.015 µf in parallel

591-60752 / 0.47 in series with .25 µI

591-60852 / 1 µf in series .5 µfH

591-42003 / 3 µf in series 1 µfG

591-42052 / 4 µf in series 2 µfF

591-70251 / one capacitor used 4 µfE

591-70451 / one capacitor used 8 µfD

591-70452 / 8 µf in parallel16 µfC

225-50101 / one capacitor used30 µfB

no capacitors used for thisswitchnoneA

Allied Elec. PartQuantity/connectionCapacitanceSwitch