I've got to the point where I'm useing enough actuator coils that I really should start makeing them, and I want to end up with coils very simular to the lightest versions Plantraco stock ,anyone have good advice for a source for the magnetic wire I'll need and a source thats in UK, and as I say at the top im wanting to end up with sone 70 mg coils and some 200 mg coils none bigger really needed for me, any help and advice of whats needed would be great, ciaran

I've got a very big spool of high quality 0.05mm heat bondable wire available if you are interested. It's it perfect for the size of coils you want to make. A 65ohm coil weighs around 0.1gram. I have some PTFE tubing suitable for making formers as well (it will stand the temp of the bonding process). There is 1.3kg wire on the spool so you could make thousands of coils from it. Might be more than you need and although I'm willing to sell it for much less than I paid, it is still a fair bit of money to invest.

FYI, for the 70mg coils you will need 0.035mm wire. It is very difficult to get a hold of heat bond wire in small quantities. MOQ is usually 1kg. I used to have some that I bought from Elektrisola. Expect to pay around £100+.

Originally Posted by epilot

FYI, for the 70mg coils you will need 0.035mm wire. It is very difficult to get a hold of heat bond wire in small quantities. MOQ is usually 1kg. I used to have some that I bought from Elektrisola. Expect to pay around £100+.

Thanks for that information, and I'll keep your offer to mind, I'd hoped to find suitable wire from a site I found from RCGroupes called Oemwire.com am I wroung, it's confusing me ha, I'm sure I can do these though, I'll be able to source suitable magnets from Plantraco, I'm sure there proberly not the cheapest but I've found them reliable with postage

Magnets can be had at very good prices from here: http://www.supermagnetman.net/
Good, friendly service and low prices.

The wire from the site you mention is not heat bondable so you will be adding a bit of weight to your coils in the form of glue or lacquer to hold them together. No need to buy from the US, we have a good supplier of wire in the UK: http://www.wires.co.uk/acatalog/SX_0032_0090.html

The thinnest heat bondable they do is 0.08mm which is too thick for the coils you want to make.

I think if I was ever so light with the glue I may find that easier for me but only as I haven't used heat bondable wire

Originally Posted by epilot

Magnets can be had at very good prices from here: http://www.supermagnetman.net/
Good, friendly service and low prices.

The wire from the site you mention is not heat bondable so you will be adding a bit of weight to your coils in the form of glue or lacquer to hold them together. No need to buy from the US, we have a good supplier of wire in the UK: http://www.wires.co.uk/acatalog/SX_0032_0090.html

The thinnest heat bondable they do is 0.08mm which is too thick for the coils you want to make.

Some very helpful links thanks epilot ,am I right in thinking the 0.040mm and 0.045mm could be a good match for makeing something similar to the 200mg one from Plantraco?,right I need to check out the how twos section again and I think I'll have this done ,maybe

I think you mean 0.045mm??

The 0.2g coils probably use 0.05-0.06mm wire.

Yes indeed thats what I ment, as we have learnt before my wording is awful and this time even worse I think 40mm would be massive haha thanks for stopping me building the heaviest micro rc plane ever

I read somewhere that those super cheap clocks at the dollar stores use a very fine wire in their motors that drive the dial hands. Maybe you could try one. I have a question. I was given some uberlite planes. The actuators were mostly bad. I ordered a couple from Micron out of Austrailia. But I would like to try making my own if these go bad. I have some very small magnets that are quite strong. I used some building brushless motors quite while back. These magnets are less than !/4" long and about 1/16" square. I would really like to find some good intructions to see exactly how actuators are made. I especially would like to make the proportional type. Are there any good directions out there for making actuators? RCNutt

The 1.5v quartz clocks do have fine wire. But in the UK the old mains timer switches have thinner wire. The mechanical types with the lugs for each 30minute period.
dt.

Thats some good info thanks David, I actually have a few of them lying around and there relatively cheap depending how much wires inside

I honestly don't think messing around with timers where you don't know what diameter wire you are going to find is worth the trouble. It is often not solderable wire anyway. A 250gram spool of solderable 0.05mm wire from wires.co.uk is only £16 plus VAT.

Originally Posted by epilot

I honestly don't think messing around with timers where you don't know what diameter wire you are going to find is worth the trouble. It is often not solderable wire anyway. ..............

epilot is right. I have tried some wires that I swear the insulation would survive a nuclear blast without the insulation coming off.

One of the vexing problems with actuators is breaking one or both wires right at the coil. If the wire was heat-bonded, you're s*&ewed. To avoid fits of apoplexy, wrap a couple of turns of the free wire around the outside of the coil and tack in place with either a water soluble glue (PVA) or a nitrocellulose kind (balsa cement like Ambroid or Sig-Ment) and use a drop of acetone to loosen if needed.

Thanks this is all good advice I will crack on and get back to everyone when I've started makeing these coils