How to make a Solenoid with commercial quality from scratch! Mini size!

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Added 4 years ago by tomm

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Build this mini-sized Solenoid from scratch using a nail, wire, a wood dowel, and some sheet metal.

Many people that build solenoids make the mistake of leaving them "open", without a metal frame. This makes them weak! You have to focus the magnetic energy into the center of the coil as much as possible.

Along with putting a metal frame around the solenoid, you also want a metal "stop" inside the non-working side of the solenoid, this will act like an additional magnet, further increasing the pull force on the plunger.

This coils specs:

34AWG magnet wire recovered from a small electric motor
@490ish turns
6V powered in this demonstration
9.5 ohms
using a small metal nail with sharp end cut off as plunger

Force of pull with full metal frame: About .150lbs at max plunger depth.

Duty cycle must be kept pretty low since this solenoid is only 9.5ohms, thus draws quite a bit of current at 6V - 34AWG wire gets hot at that current draw. As the coil gets hot, the solenoid will get weaker