Gapped cores ... where to buy

[dj_maxxro]

Hello all,

Does anybody know where I can buy factory-gapped ferrite ETD cores? Also in small quantity if possible... I live in Europe and it seems a search on the internet only reveals US providers. Needless to say the cost of overseas shipping is very big, rendering the whole project a big money hog.

I am interested in something like this B66367G1000X187 EPCOS (TDK) | Magnetics - Transformer, Inductor Components | DigiKey

Any suggestions are much apreciated. Thank you !

 

[Andrew.Thompson]

Not quite a direct answer for your question but I can propose the solution we use at work when prototyping magnetic components.

What we tend to do to replicate the effect one would expect from using a gapped core is simply to place some plastic shim material between the two ferrite sections creating a universal gap across the join in the core. Obviously the shim will create multiple gaps, so will need to be thinner than the original gap you are trying to replicate but this generally seems to give workable parts before we get proper cores in.

 

[jackinnj]

There are European sellers on EBay -- one in Bulgaria at the moment.

 

[rikkitikkitavi]

Pace magnetics in UK.

Any of the large electronic parts suppliers, farnell, RS , TME.eu etc etc.

For prototyping Andrews suggestion works well. A single center leg gap could cause a lot of stray flux and therefore eddy current losses in your windings.

 

[dj_maxxro]

Thank you for the suggestion, rikkitikkitavi ! I found everything I need at their site and their prices are fair. Thanks again

Later edit: TME & Farnell don't stock these as far as I searched, but Pace Magnetics is a real winner