Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Pot Core dismantling

What is the best way of taking a used pot core apart?
I have tried the big hammer method, I have not managed to dismantle without detroying it.
It would be nice to save the bobbin so that the number of turns can be counted.
 
The halves are glued together.
The ferrite is very fragile and would break easily into fragments if "hammered" .

I think the best way is heating the glue to its melting point and taking the halves apart(100 C or about ,with gloves or pliers-very light grip !)
You can heat with a hot-gun,an oven,soaking in boiling water etc.
good luck


PS.
How would you wind a transformer/coil without knowing the core's parameters?
 
I do not have photo equipment at present to take a picture. The pot cores I have tried to open all seem to shatter, the glue is as strong or stronger than the ferrite.

The present one I would like to dismantle is out of a Kestral electric fencer and is used as a blocking oscillator with a germanium transistor. There is much corrosion the transistor has lost a leg and the coil is open circuit. I would like to rewind it with the same number of turns, thus I do not need to know the core's parameters. I do have an inductance meter if necessary.

I have not tried heating, that is perhaps the way to go, the bobbins seem to be plastic, perhaps nylon, and would not take kindly to be heated to more than 150 C.

Why do I have this obsession with mending old junk?
 
I dismantle small SMPS ferrite transformers to rewind. How I do it is use an old Microwave oven, put the core in the oven & heat it up until the glue softens. I usualy use a time of about 2 min lots until the halves can be separated. This is hard on the Magnetron but I am using an old oven & have plenty of spare Magnetrons.
 
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