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Step 3Building the jaws
So once I realized that the new secondary was actually producing an output, I decided to proceed. Up until this point I wasn't sure it was even going to do anything at all.
I used scraps of wood. A long narrow piece as the base. A fat piece mounted on it's side and screwed in from the bottom. A piece of thin plywood to seal in the remaining side. I had some copper pipe scraps that worked out well. In my caution over heat I doubled up, using a 1/2 inch hard copper pipe with a 3/8 inch soft copper tube shoved inside. I drilled some small holes in the pipes and then used drywall screws to assemble the entire thing.
The bottom jaw is fixed and I used a couple screws to do that, one into the base is visible in the picture. The upper jaw swings up or down and I used one screw, coming in from the side, near the back to achieve this. A small spring pushes the upper jaw up and an offset cam is used to push it down.
The bolts are made of copper. I stripped them off an old copper battery connector. I don't know how difficult it is to source copper bolts but there is a specialty fastener place in town that I would likely check first. I sharpened them on the bench grinder so that they came to a bit more of a point.
I tapped the holes, but copper is ductile enough that you can drill a hole slightly smaller than the bolt and just force it in. The bolt will cut the threads for you. I put the bolts in at the very start. I did everything else making sure that the bolts continued to meet when the jaws close. It is essential to keep the jaws electrically isolated from each other everywhere except the tips of the bolts.
I used scraps of wood. A long narrow piece as the base. A fat piece mounted on it's side and screwed in from the bottom. A piece of thin plywood to seal in the remaining side. I had some copper pipe scraps that worked out well. In my caution over heat I doubled up, using a 1/2 inch hard copper pipe with a 3/8 inch soft copper tube shoved inside. I drilled some small holes in the pipes and then used drywall screws to assemble the entire thing.
The bottom jaw is fixed and I used a couple screws to do that, one into the base is visible in the picture. The upper jaw swings up or down and I used one screw, coming in from the side, near the back to achieve this. A small spring pushes the upper jaw up and an offset cam is used to push it down.
The bolts are made of copper. I stripped them off an old copper battery connector. I don't know how difficult it is to source copper bolts but there is a specialty fastener place in town that I would likely check first. I sharpened them on the bench grinder so that they came to a bit more of a point.
I tapped the holes, but copper is ductile enough that you can drill a hole slightly smaller than the bolt and just force it in. The bolt will cut the threads for you. I put the bolts in at the very start. I did everything else making sure that the bolts continued to meet when the jaws close. It is essential to keep the jaws electrically isolated from each other everywhere except the tips of the bolts.
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