Single ended OT absolutely needs to be air gapped?

[Satamax]

Hi everybody!

I'd like to try one thing, i have a huge 115/230/400V 1KW trany, i was wondering if i could try it as a OT for a single ended amp. I know they need to be air gapped, but i thought, the core being soo big it might not saturate.

Bye and thanks.

Max.

[matndona]

I'd guess that 60 or 80 mADC isn't going to bother a core that big if you try to use it as-is. I've stacked some much smaller Hammond ESE sized coils w/o a gap and they've been OK with 6V6's. But when the laminations were put back together butt stacked (all E's on 1 side, all I's on the other) they sound much better, with the gap in place.

You could probably run the world's largest vacuum tube on that monster if you can unstack the core and put it back together as a Butt Stack. Paper or tape at 0.002-0.003" thick would serve nicely for a gap.

[R.G.]

Originally Posted by Satamax

Hi everybody!

I'd like to try one thing, i have a huge 115/230/400V 1KW trany, i was wondering if i could try it as a OT for a single ended amp. I know they need to be air gapped, but i thought, the core being soo big it might not saturate.

Bye and thanks.

Max.

No one here is going to know whether it saturates or not. You're going to have to measure it or just cross your fingers for luck.

Cram 100ma through it from some current limited source. Then try to impress an AC voltage of the lowest frequency you want to pass and the highest voltage you want to pass across a winding. Can you see it on other windings, undistorted and without significant losses other than the turns ratio? If so, it's not saturated.