Trying a Staggered FC.

So I was doing more aliens today and got a little bored. I decided to try making some SFC wire for the hell of it.

Went fairly well I guess. I had some skips and areas that were a consistent jump of two coils on the wrap. I would have preferred a jump of two the entire way, or no jumps at all.

What would *really* help is if I could set my camera up with the macro so that I could see what's going on better. As it stands I'm basically looking at light reflecting off the surface. Difficult but not impossible. I have enough wire for two good coils so I'm gonna throw them in the Kylin or goon.

Any tips are welcome!

2x24g Kanthal cores, spaced 36g SS 316l wraps, Fuse wrap is also 36g SS 316l.

My apologies for not having a better field of view with the macro!

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Alright these aren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be. I took a break and just knocked out over a foot and it's flawless.

Then again I guess this would be the single core clapton of staggered builds. Still haven't gotten a proper framed anything yet. That is all in the prep as far as I can tell, so I need to work on that. I'm gonna laugh at my little piece of SFC a week from now, but today I'm proud of it. I think I'll give it to my favorite shop owner. He's been good to me and my gf.

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Btw the coils made from the first post are cooking great in the Kylin. I wasn't able to even the heat enough to get a great color shot before they went gray again, but they are even now. That's the important thing I guess.

What should I try next? I'd like to try something that isn't based on clapton wrapping, but I don't know what that might be?

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Those look awesome...im learning fused claps and having such a hard time keeping my coil in the drill chuck. I can start making a foot and it'll break so many times by the time I'm finished I only got like 6 in LOL any tips?

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bx10r said:

Those look awesome...im learning fused claps and having such a hard time keeping my coil in the drill chuck. I can start making a foot and it'll break so many times by the time I'm finished I only got like 6 in LOL any tips?

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You either are applying too much tension on the wrap wire, too much tension on the drill, or have bad swivels. My guess is the first one.

BKTOAD said:

You either are applying too much tension on the wrap wire, too much tension on the drill, or have bad swivels. My guess is the first one.

Click to expand...

Gonna go and redo my swivels and see...ill try goin loser in the drill as well

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bx10r said:

Gonna go and redo my swivels and see...ill try goin loser in the drill as well

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My guess is neither of those are you primary problem though.

You need a minimal pressure on the wrap wire. Put your spool in a ziploc bag with the wire feeding out of the opening. Leave it open. Get your wrap started, “Hold” the spool is not even the right word here. More of “contact” the spool with your finger on one side, thumb on the other. It should be so loose that it feels awkward at first. Keep your spool 90degrees from your cores and a foot away. Open up the drill. Full speed. Let it wrap itself. If you see your cores bow toward your spool hand, you are holding the spool too tight.

You will probably have a couple of fails until you get the feel of it. Keep with it. And you will be knocking out fused claptons effortlessly.

BKTOAD said:

My guess is neither of those are you primary problem though.

You need a minimal pressure on the wrap wire. Put your spool in a ziploc bag with the wire feeding out of the opening. Leave it open. Get your wrap started, “Hold” the spool is not even the right word here. More of “contact” the spool with your finger on one side, thumb on the other. It should be so loose that it feels awkward at first. Keep your spool 90degrees from your cores and a foot away. Open up the drill. Full speed. Let it wrap itself. If you see your cores bow toward your spool hand, you are holding the spool too tight.

You will probably have a couple of fails until you get the feel of it. Keep with it. And you will be knocking out fused claptons effortlessly.

Click to expand...

I was doing good, dont know what happened...lol

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bx10r said:

I was doing good, dont know what happened...lol

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Click to expand...

Just takes practice.

Once you get the feel of it, you will be knocking them out effortlessly.

I had a hard time at first with them. I am sure most builders did. Then, something clicks. And it becomes incredibly easy.

Sometimes just gotta waste a little wire and time, and cuss a lot. Worked for me.

Your swivels are bearing swivels, right? If not that could be the problem for sure.

My only suggestions-

Get some Spool Tamers either at Hobby Lobby, or Amazon. They are fantastic and you can almost completely automate single wire claptons using one. I think I bought 10 and I have one on each of my spools.

Make sure you have lots of light.

Maybe don't drink caffeine before you start. That said, I always have coffee nearby.

Put something light in color behind the spinning wire. A white field of vision helps (along with light) to let me see what's going on much better than a dark background.

I'm going to grab one of those things that goes on your face, has lights, but more importantly, has magnifying lenses so you can really see up close.

I'll probably get a cheap speed control from Harbor Freight and maybe a foot pedal or something.

Keep going though because what you learn now will have the most direct impact on anything else you want to try. And I agree with the "feeling" clicking. You'll do it for a while, it'll click and then you'll knock em out from then on.

I'm very new at this though so advice from the other guys should carry some weight. I haven't had time to try many things to narrow down what's best for me.


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Also make sure your wire coming out of the drills chuck is straight and in line with it. if it is at even a slight angle it will tend to break the wire as it turns and bends back and forth.

bx10r said:

Those look awesome...im learning fused claps and having such a hard time keeping my coil in the drill chuck. I can start making a foot and it'll break so many times by the time I'm finished I only got like 6 in LOL any tips?

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Click to expand...

Once i get about half an inch wrapped, I open the chuck and reclamp on the wrapped cores... a little stronger and easier to center.

bx10r said:

Those look awesome...im learning fused claps and having such a hard time keeping my coil in the drill chuck. I can start making a foot and it'll break so many times by the time I'm finished I only got like 6 in LOL any tips?

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Click to expand...

Wrap some masking tape around the end of your cores so that the masking tape is sticking halfway into the chuck of your drill. The masking tape acts like a cushion in between so the wires don't snap easily.

As for what makes good swivel tools... mine is similar to the USA Ohm Meters Spin LT. It is the Coil Beast (3D printed, using a Freesport Speedballs 608-RS bearing):

Haha looks like they figured out like I did that the spinLT works better with front bearing removed

mikekscholz said:

Haha looks like they figured out like I did that the spinLT works better with front bearing removed

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They found out more than just that. The peg is designed in such a way that it can tilt more freely, which helps to further reduce cogging as you put more tension on your wrap wire (as does the fact this peg has less weight), and, because the frame has only 3 screw holes instead of 4, it helps to prevent wood splitting. (Putting in 2 screws within close distance of eachother and aligned in such a way that both screws hit virtually the same grain of your soft lumber is one of the things that can cause wood splitting.)

Important things on your sfc's is to leave the staggered section lose on core and leave the ends in a straw or something similar so the staggered section can move without restriction... That's really the most important part.


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Oh definitely. I think it was a video by OhmBoy Josh that led me to spinning the drill while holding the wrap in order to loosen it up. I leave room on cores so that the wrap can move around. It would be impossible (for me) to get the wrap so perfect that it lined up the entire length of the whole thing. No way that would work.

Has nothing to do with this build, but I got those alien maker beast and I like them quite a bit. I use them for all kinds of builds. I also got one of those jewelers hand vice things. Chucked up it works pretty well. Any variation in wire diameter causes a problem, but I just put a little piece of paper around the ends that go into the vise and it works pretty well.

I have a head visor with lights and loupe lenses so I can really see what's going on in the mail. Lots of wire coming too.

I use to take knife making classes anytime they were offered here. It would be fun to teach a class on coil/wire making one day. I doubt there'd be enough interest though. Who knows.

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