I second the suggestion for acetone. Dunk it in a tub of the stuff, make sure it's fully submerged, and leave it in there for a few days. I've taken apart many smaller transformers because the varnish tends to turn into more of a gel with the acetone. I've also read that nasty solvents like toluene and xylene could work but honestly I'd avoid them.
Just a little stripe of polish on the surfaces, lay down the next layer of E and I. It doesn't have to be spread too thick, when you squeeze it later with a clamp, it'll spread quite evenly.
As ou near filling the stack, use a Quick-Grip clamp with the rubber pads removed to give a squeeze on the exposed faces. You can install the rest. Give a final squeeze, rub off the nail polish that squeezes out and you can use it right away, or if the smell bothers you, wait a couple of days to dry (the heat from an operating transformer will cure it all the way through in a week).
If you have a few lams left over (3 is typical), no worries. It takes practise
I just use the el-cheapo clear enamel that's 50 cents/bottle. It's easier to work with. The expensive stuff never quite hardens and is too thick for this job.
As ou near filling the stack, use a Quick-Grip clamp with the rubber pads removed to give a squeeze on the exposed faces. You can install the rest. Give a final squeeze, rub off the nail polish that squeezes out and you can use it right away, or if the smell bothers you, wait a couple of days to dry (the heat from an operating transformer will cure it all the way through in a week).
If you have a few lams left over (3 is typical), no worries. It takes practise
I just use the el-cheapo clear enamel that's 50 cents/bottle. It's easier to work with. The expensive stuff never quite hardens and is too thick for this job.
just found your webpage...
http://geek.scorpiorising.ca/windingtransformers.html
Good reading.
-- josé k.
http://geek.scorpiorising.ca/windingtransformers.html
Good reading.
-- josé k.
I used to just dump transformers into a coffee can full of paint stripper for a couple of days - the laminations come apart nice and clean without a lot of persuasion. This may not work so well now that they've removed a lot of the methylene chloride from paint stripper, but it still may be worth a try. Try brushing some paint stripper on the varnish - if it bubbles up and gets soft, you're golden. Xylene will most likely work as a solvent for the more common solvent-based transformer varnishes, though probably not for the polyester or epoxy formulations. Home Depot sells Xylene by the quart and the gallon. It's not good for you, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem if you avoid getting it on your skin (nitrile gloves, perhaps?), and keep the coffee can full of bad stuff outside.
korneluk said:
i dip the traffo in a tub full of lacquer thinner, i let it stay a few days depending on the stiffness of the varnish..
then use a thin knife to separate the firs few e and i's, a flat screw driver and a rubber mallet and you are in bussiness..
when this fails and you will not be using the coils, then haksaw the coils out of the way of the ei's..
HI
Used a knife last time i did this..
Used a knife last time i did this..
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