Build your own

Doug Coil Machine

Easy to follow steps with clear explanations and
numerous photographs

Written by John Stolar

Professor of Geology/Astronomy (ret)
And Lyme victim
 Dedication
It is important to recognize the efforts of those rare individuals who make
a difference in the lives of large numbers of people.
I would like to dedicate this tutorial to two such people who helped many
who recovered their lives from pain and despair to having hope and light.
Doug MacLean designed what is now known as the “Doug Coil Machine”
and showed what could be achieved with ingenuity and amazing curiosity.
His discoveries are admired by many thousands who appreciate his
contributions to all of us.
John Propster designed the current model of the Doug Coil Machine and
touched lives that he could not possibly imagine.
Our gratitude to these exceptional individuals is well deserved.

Thank you, Doug and John, for making a difference.

 Disclaimer page

Coil machines are not approved for the treatment of any disease or condition by the
Federal Drug Administration or any other government, public, or private agency.
Coil machines are not recommended for use on humans since the effects have not been
fully researched and understood.
Women who are pregnant and anyone having a pacemaker should not use a coil
machine.
Precautions regarding electrical devices and magnetic fields should be taken.
Coil machines are for the purpose of experimental investigation into the effects of
electromagnetic frequencies and magnetic fields.
Users having serious medical conditions should heed the advice of competent and
trained medical personnel. Do not substitute the use of a coil machine for competent
medical advice and counseling.
It should be understood that human biological responses to coil machines are not fully
known.
It is understood that the user is responsible for experimental investigation and accepts all
responsibility for the use of this device.
The user cannot hold the author of this coil machine tutorial responsible for any
consequences that may result from the building of this device.
 Introduction

This presentation will organize the construction of a Doug coil machine

(DCM) in a logical series of steps and will provide detailed explanations and
illustrate the steps with many sequential photographs of a DCM being built.
A person with no electrical experience will be able to complete this project
safely with some basic tools and common sense.
The tutorial took over 200 hours to complete. It contains 150+ photographs and 139 PowerPoint pages
covering all of the topics Involved in building a Doug Coil Machine. The purpose for producing such a thing is
to provide some aid to my fellow Lyme-infected sufferers - its my chance in life to do something good for a
large number of people, most of whom, unfortunately, I will never meet. Not many people get a chance like
this so for this reason, this CD will always be free.

The material in the tutorial can be shared, copied, and printed but cannot be included in part or its entirety in
any publication or in any other medium that will be sold. My point is to help people – not to take their money.
If you find that you don’t understand something in the tutorial or have questions, please feel free to email me
at:
johnstolar1224@yahoo.com.
 Table of Contents
Pages
5 Schematic of a DCM
6 -8 Tools and Materials
9 - 14 Operating a DCM, Shutdown Procedure
15 - 20 Coils
21 - 40 Coil Winding Device, soldering speaker wire to the coil
41 - 43 Measuring your Coil’s Inductance
44 - 47 Multimeter
48 - 50 Amplifier
51 - 54 Switches
55 - 63 Capacitors
64 - 84 Making Capacitor Arrays
85 - 101 Connecting the Capacitor Arrays to the Switches
102 - 106 Resistors
107 - 108 Wave/Signal Generator
109 - 122 Coil Stand
123 - 129 Doug Coil Machine on a Cart
130 - 138 New and Alternate Ideas Section
139 Encouragement Page
 signal
generator

The Instek SFG 2004 signal generator

Schematic of a DCM
comes with a cable that plugs into the
BNC jack on the bottom right of the
generator and alligator clips on the other
end. I cut the clips off and attached fork
amplifier input amplifier output
connectors. The red wire should be
attached to Channel 1 + and the black QSC1850HD amplifier (back) _
Channel 1
wire to the Channel 1 – terminals.
Use a small wire loop to connect Mode Switches +
the – terminal and all are off (push
the ground terminals together. sliders to the left) +
except for #4 and _ Channel 2
#5 parallel inputs connect top & bottom terminals
barrier strip
(screws) with 12 gauge wire loop
Channel 1 & 2
inputs

double binding post

2 sets of
all other all other switch 5 resistors
12 ga..speaker wire
switches switches A each volt meter

cap
coil arrays
(2 are
no caps on
shown
wire nuts connecting switch A
there
2 coil wires and speaker are 15)
wires

A terminal block with two rows of 8 screws each (rated 20 amps)

could be used here. See terminals blocks on P.137
near the end of the tutorial.
 Tools and Materials
• wire cutter and insulation stripper
• electrician’s pliers for twisting wires together
• needle-nosed pliers (for reaching where fingers can’t fit)
• electric soldering iron or gun
• Solder - rosin core, .062” diameter works well
• wire nuts: (2 yellow size for each coil) (3 large grey size) ( 20+/- red size)
• (3 blue – very large size for 5 or 6 (12 gauge wires). If you use terminal blocks instead you will need two
• double row, 8 screw blocks.
• 44 female spade connectors for 12 gauge wire
• wire connector crimping pliers
• cable ties 11” length (for banding the wire in a coil and for holding the coil to the stand)
• cable ties 7” length (for banding capacitors to mounts or to a panel - about 25 needed)
• cable tie mounting bases (for mounting capacitors and resistors but a !” plywood panel and cable ties works well)
• electric drill or drill press, 1/2”, 5/8, and 1” Forstner bits, Phillips driver bit
 Electrician’s pliers
Wire stripper and cutter
This tool is specifically made for 12 gauge
wire. Other sizes are available but this may
the most important tool for this project so
to avoid much wasted time – get the 12 gauge
one.

Blunt ends allow

for twisting 3+ wires
Wire nuts together
 Soldering iron with temperature control and hot iron
rest stand. Soldering is mostly done to secure
Wire connector crimping tool. This does a much better job than capacitors together in a DCM. Cost is about $16.
regular pliers. Notice the bare wire inside the connector- the Check http://www.elexp.com for parts and tools
insulation should be stripped so the tinned metal sleeve is crimped
around bare copper wire. Get female connectors that are made
for 10 or 12 gauge wire.

Soldering iron – no temp. control and no rest stand

 Operating the DCM
Knowing how to operate the DCM before building it may help people understand how
the components work together.

1. Place the coil so the hole faces you. It can lean on something sturdy or can hang
with ties to the back of a wooden chair, etc. It can get hot (well over 100 F) so be
sure to keep plastic items away from the coil. Electrical tape can melt if used to hold
a coil together or to hold it in place while in use. Details are given later in this tutorial
for building a coil stand. Be sure to place the coil at least 6 or 8 feet away from TVs,
stereos, computers, memory cards, digital cameras, and credit cards. The coil’s
magnetic field may interfere with these things in addition to other things in your home.
Plug the end of the 15 ft 12 gauge wire attached to the coil into the binding post jacks
on the DCM.

2. Turn the multimeter on and set the dial for V~ (volts AC current) and use the RANGE
button to set the units shown on the LCD screen of the meter to V~ (not mV which is
millivolts). Be sure to dial the V~ for alternating current and not V---- for direct current.
The manual helps here. The test lead wires coming out of the multimeter (with
alligator clips to hold the test leads in place) must be placed at both sides of a set of 5
resistors (see picture on next page) that are soldered together. Be sure to plug in the
black test lead wire into the black jack (or Com) in the multimeter and the red test
lead in the red jack that has V next to it.
Two sets of five resistors each. The red alligator clip test lead
Is attached to one side of a set of resistors and the black test
lead is connected to the other side. Details on soldering the
resistors together are given in the section on Resistors
This is how the meter should be setup to operate the
DCM. Notice the positions of the red and black test
leads. The dial is pointing to V~ and the “Range” button
was pushed to get the decimal behind the first zero
since the meter will read 1.500 volts when the DCM is in
use.
1. Turn on the signal generator and input a frequency such as 432 and push
the Hertz button. Push the “Wave “ button to get the curvy sine curve icon.
Push “Shift” and “8” to get the -20db icon. This subtracts current from the
input to the amplifier so the “Ampl” knob is much less sensitive and can be
adjusted better. The generator is now outputting waves of the frequency you
chose. You could check this by setting your multimeter dial to Hz and using
its test lead wires to touch the end of the red lead and the black lead wire.
When you use a frequency from about 800Hz you will need to remove the -
20db function or the meter may not be able to reach 1.5 volts when the
machine is operating.

2. Turn on the amplifier with its rocker switch – be sure that the 2 volume dials
on the front of the amplifier are turned counter clockwise to zero.

3. Flip the correct toggle switches up to the ON position to set the required
capacitance for the frequency you chose. (See the section on capacitors)

4. Turn both amplifier dials clockwise to the maximum position

5. Turn the “Ampl” knob up on the signal generator until the reading on the
LCD multimeter display reads 1.5 volts. The coil machine is ready to use. It
hums fairly loudly. The coil heats up in time so if the phone rings – let it
ring. If the red clip lights on the amplifier ever go on turn the “AMPL”
knob CCW to lower the current.
The coil can get hot so it should be on a stand that you can hold or get close
to. It is recommended that you have a fan blowing on the coil for cooling
purposes and for ventilation. The plastic insulation on the wire in the coil
can emit fumes if the coil exceeds 235 F. so be sure to be in a well
ventilated room – a closet would not be suitable.

6. When you finish with one frequency and want to choose another, turn the
“AMPL” knob off and both gain knobs on the amplifier counterclockwise to
zero. Don’t change capacitor toggle switches when the amplifier volume
dials are anywhere other than zero. This prevents overloading the
capacitors with electric current.
7. Pull capacitance toggle switches down to the off position and turn on the
new set of switches for the new frequency. (see the freq cap calculator on
the CD).

8. Repeat the procedure on the signal generator but with the new frequency

9. Turn up both amplifier volume dials to maximum, turn the signal generator
volume dial so the multimeter again reads 1.5 volts.

10. That’s it – you just repeat the procedure for another frequency.

You will notice that a fan in the amplifier begins running at a higher speed a
few minutes into the use of the coil. This is normal to control overheating of
the amplifier. If the heating is more than the fan can handle the amplifier
stops its output of current to the coil and shuts down until cooled and then
restarts automatically – you can resume using the coil at that point.
 Shutdown Procedure

Shutdown is simply the reverse of the steps you do to operate the DCM
Turn the “AMPL” knob off, Turn the amplifier gain knobs off
(counterclockwise all the way)

Flip capacitor toggle switches to off (in the down position) however the
switches can be left on but it is advised to check that the correct switches
are turned on

Turn both the multimeter and signal generator off.

Keep the amplifier on for a few minutes to cool. The air coming out of the
front of the amplifier will be warm or hot at first. Push the rocker switch to
off after the air feels cool.
 Coils
Insulated copper wire coils are used to produce magnetic fields that
change the positions of the magnetic poles at different frequencies.
For instance at a frequency of 432 Hz the magnetic poles change
position 432 times per second

Coils differ from one another in various ways such as

1. different size (gauge) insulated wire, DCM coils use 12 gauge
insulated solid copper wire. The copper is 2mm in diameter and
with the insulation it is 3mm in diameter.
2. different thickness of wire insulation
3. different width and
thickness of coil dimensions (width and thickness)
4. variation in tightness of wraps

A general rule is that the more wire you can get into a coil of a given
volume, the higher the coil’s inductance will be.
• An electrical measurement that is important for building a DCM is the
inductance of the coil. Inductance for our purpose is not important to
understand in depth but a short definition is that inductance is the ability of a
coil carrying an electric current to resist a change in the current flowing
through the coil. Another way to understand inductance is that it is a
measure of the amount of copper in a cross section of a coil if the coil could
be cut across the wires. Coils that have an alternating (the current travels in
a wave form) electric current running through them produce an alternating
magnetic field. Moving electric current (charged particles) automatically
produces a magnetic field. Even hot gas becomes charged and produces
very strong magnetism due to movement of the gas as in the surface of the
sun.

• The reason Inductance is important is that it is related mathematically to

frequency and capacitance. If we know two of these values we can
calculate the third one.

• For example when make a coil you physically measure its inductance with
your multimeter. This gives you one of the values needed. You choose
what frequency to generate with your signal generator – so now you have
two of the values. A calculator program supplied on this CD will allow you
to get the desired capacitance so you can turn on the correct capacitors to
generate an alternating magnetic with your coil.
• Most coil machine builders have one coil. This coil with an inductance of 7
to 8 millihenries (mh) will easily produce alternating magnetic fields from
about 20 pole reversals per second to about 2000. The unit of frequency is
Hertz where 1 Hertz is one pole reversal per second. To have higher
frequencies you will need a coil of lower inductance approximately in the
range of 4 to 5 mh. Overheating of the amplifier is the result of attempting
to generate higher frequency with a high inductance coil (you should use a
low inductance coil for the frequencies over approximately 2000 Hz.
You can try all of this out on the calculator by typing in various frequencies
and inductances to see how capacitance changes
How do you make a coil of lower inductance? less wire - accomplished by
less width and thickness of your coil (assuming you still have tight
windings).

• For example – a coil I wrapped with 12 gauge solid, insulated THNN wire
(available in 500 foot spools at all Lowe’s and Home Depot stores) that
measures 2 inches wide and 1.5 inches thick, wound very tightly, measured
an inductance of 8.51 mh. This coil has 12 layers of wire in the 1.5 inch
thickness and 16 rows of wire in the 2 inch width. It contains approximately
425 - 450 feet of wire. The coil was wrapped around a 6 inch form
(described in detail in later slides) so the finished coil has a 6 inch diameter
hole in its center. The outside diameter of the entire coil is 9 inches.

•
A coil wrapped with the same gauge wire on the same form and measuring 1.5”
in thickness and 1.75” in width has an inductance of 7.20 mh. This coil has 15
layers on wire in the 1.5” of thickness and 13 rows of wire in the 1.75” of width.
This coil has the 6” diameter hole and 9” outside diameter Another coil
wrapped with the same gauge wire on the same form but this time the width
and thickness both are 1 3/8” now has an inductance of 2.98 mh. This coil has
11 layers of wire in the 1 3/8” thickness and 11 rows of wire in the 1 3/8” of
width. This coil has the 6” diameter hole and 9” outside diameter. A coil that is
too large in width and thickness and tightly wound could have an inductance of
12 mh or more and prove to be useless for higher frequencies.

What matters is that you end up with a coil of about 7 to 8 mh if you intend to
have only one coil. If your coil comes out slightly higher or lower, it doesn’t
matter significantly because the capacitors you will switch on for a particular
frequency will change with the inductance of the coil you make. That is
precisely why this tutorial cannot supply you with a list of capacitor switches to
use for a given frequency you wish to generate since your personal coil
determines this factor.
You don’t have to calculate anything since there is a calculator program
on this CD that will calculate everything you need. It is all very easy.
 Measuring Inductance with a Multimeter

Notice the position of the dial. It is pointing to the mH

symbol (Henry is the unit of measure for inductance).
Also notice that the red test lead is plugged into the
far left red socket labeled with an H. The coils are not
connected to a coil machine in these pictures. The
magnetic field is very strong in the hole area of the coil
and would produce heating in any metallic object
placed there – your meter would be ruined.
 Coil dimensions and Inductance
(all coils have 6”
6” diameter holes and are wrapped with 12 gauge THNN solid copper wire)

coil size layers of wire rows of wire inductance

1 3/8” thick x 1 3/8” wide 11 layers 11 rows 2.98mH

1 3/8” thick x 1 !” wide 12 layers 12 rows 4.39mH

1 "” thick x 2” wide 11 layers 15 rows 7.01mH

1.5” thick x 1.75” wide 15 layers 13 rows 7.20mH

1.5” thick x 2’ wide 12.5 layers 16 rows 8.49mH

1.5” thick x 2” wide 12 layers 16 rows 8.51mH

These coils were wrapped over a 3 week period. It seems apparent that there must be some variation in either the thickness of the
insulation on the wire or of the tension on the wire during wrapping. It is assumed that the copper wire is the same diameter. The
spool winder was very rigid and is not a factor in introducing extra rows in some coils. Three of the coils are 2” wide but one coil
has
an extra row. Wire tension during winding has more of an effect on the number of layers than on the number of rows so this is one
of those things to ponder( I suspect that if wraps nestle in between the wire wraps below them throughout the coil you will get a
higher inductance coil than if layers of wire sit exactly on top of the wires in the layer below). Some of each happens in every coil.
The 8.49 mH coil had 13 layers but I removed half of the last layer to get the inductance down from 9.58 to 8.49 mH. I removed the
wire foot by foot and checked the inductance continually. It was surprising how much the inductance changed with the removal of
just a few wraps of wire.
 Coil Winding Device
There are many good ways to wrap insulated solid copper wire tightly
enough to make a good coil. I wrapped 50+ coils in seven months with the
device I made and of course the last one is better than the first. I decided
that I needed firm sides on the form I would wrap the wire upon. That
decision eliminated anything that would flex with pressure so I used !” thick
(actually .707 inches thick and not .75”) birch plywood. A series of pictures
illustrating the making of the winding device is on the next slides.

The first step was to use a compass to draw a 6” diameter circle on the birch
plywood. A 9” diameter circle was drawn using the same center point as for
the 6” circle. This resulted in two concentric circles. I drew a line across the
largest circle and through the center point and then drew lines 15 degrees
apart (I used a plastic protractor) from the center of both circles out to the 6”
circle. Thirty 3/8” holes would be drilled at these15 degree intervals along
the inside of the 6” circle. It is necessary to only draw the circles and lines
on one of the plywood pieces since they will be taped together so the drilling
of 3/8” holes results in two identical pieces.
I used a band saw to cut out the circles (you cut on the outside of the line of
the 9” circle).

These are 15 degree spaces on the 6”

circle. A 3/8” hole will be drilled inside
the 6 inch circle at the end of each line. The
drilled holes will all be inside the 6” circle
and not cross over into the space between
the
6” and 9” circles. The center of each
3/8” hole should be on the lines pointed to by
the blue arrow.
These are 8 areas where slots will be cut to hold the cable ties that
will eventually hold the wire coil together. It’s a nice way to have the
ties held in place while winding wire. The birch plywood is stained
because it was a shelf from a large TV cabinet I made. I got a larger
TV and didn’t need the cabinet any more.
 The holes are completely inside the 6” circle.
The dowels that are placed in the holes will form
the surface that the wire is wound upon. Note that
the disks are taped together so they can be drilled
together.
The dark holes are charred wood caused by
a dull drill bit. Its easy to see what a sharp
drill bit does on the other holes. The sharp bit
I used is a brad point wood drill bit. It has a pointed
tip which makes it easy to see where the center of the
hole will be when the bit is turning in the drill.
Both plywood circles were drilled at the same time.
To do otherwise would make it impossible to join
the two disks together with dowels.
The disks must be in the orientation shown. To assemble,
the disk on the right will end up on the outside of the
winding spool and the surface of the disk on the left will
be on the inside of the winding spool. The arrows show the
alignment of the disks when they were taped and drilled.
• e
beeswax
The grooves were cut with a radial arm saw but there are other ways
to cut the grooves – but none as easy as with a radial arm saw. A
sharp chisel would work but it would be slow. The blade is raised
otherwise I would cut the disk into pieces. Since the saw blade teeth
are 1/8” wide and the cable ties that will go Into the grooves
are wider, you need to make several cuts to fit the ties. A groove
slightly large is better than a groove that is too narrow. The depth
of each groove is slightly deeper than a cable tie is thick. Notice
how these grooves are between the holes. This is so the cable ties
can slide easily in the grooves.
Drill a 5/8 inch hole for a dowel
or iron rod so the winding spool
can easily turn.
I highly recommend oak 3/8” dowel rods (from
Home Depot). The are tough and will take the hammering
required to assemble the winding spool for winding a
coil and taking it apart to get the wire coil off. I waxed
them with bees wax to make them easier to use. The
dowels are 3 !” long. This length allows them to
be firmly in each disk and to have 2” of space
between disks for winding a 2” wide wire coil. If
you want to wind wider coils – make the dowels
respectively longer.
 The head of this rubber
hammer is filled with lead
shot. The inertia of the shot
gives solid hits.

The winding spool is assembled. I recommend driving the dowels

Into a disk as it sits on a firm surface. A rubber hammer will not dent
and destroy your wood disks and dowels like a metal hammer will soon
do. After all the dowels are in the first disk as shown to the left, it is a little
tricky to get the second disk started onto the dowels. If you slightly tilt
the second disk you can get a few dowels started into the holes of the
All of the dowels are inserted into the holes and
second disk and just slowly work your way around the perimeter. You
are flush with the other side of this disk
will have to use your fingers to force some dowels into alignment. Don’t
hammer on the outer rim – it might break – hammer inside of the ring of
the dowel holes
 1 1/2”

10”

Notice the dowels are sticking out of what was the top disk
shown in the previous picture. If the dowels would be flush
with both disks, the gap between the disks would be
2” wide for a 2” wide wire coil.

A length of !” steel rod makes a good axle but a

Since I wanted to wind a 1 3/8” wide coil, I placed 4 wood
blocks exactly 1 3/8” long between the plywood disks and
then I used the rubber hammer to drive the disks
together. That is why the dowels are sticking out of the disk
In this picture. Remove the blocks and you are ready to wind
a coil.
wood dowel would be fine. The distance between
the dowel rods in the gap between the disks out to the
outside edge of the disks is 1 !” so the wire coil
will be 1 !” thick.
grooves for the cable ties

This is one cable tie, the locking
socket on the right end and the
tongue end on the left. It loops down
between the dowels and is held in
place in the grooves. I used 11”
cable ties because 8” ties are not
long enough to pull tight easily.
2 !”
10”
7 "“
Clamp to hold
wire roll holder
The coil winding spool. I This the roll of wire that
used 3” long screws will be wound onto the winding
through the 2x4 bottom of spool to make the wire coil.
each wire roll stand and into
the end of the 2x4 upright
pieces. This is simply a
U-shaped structure.

A small hole is drilled here to secure the
end of the wire to start the coil. Without this
hole the stiff 12 gauge wire could not be pulled tight
enough to start the first layer of wire
The first wrap - the start of
Cable ties in grooves a good coil is based on having
tight layers and rows.
Once you start to wind a coil you can’t stop
unless you keep a piece of duct tape handy
and can tape down the wire on your coil – it
will unwind for several layers if you release
the tension
The wire is wound inch by inch with constant tension
with the fingers to keep the wraps tight. There is nothing The coil is finished. Now the cable ties can be tightened.
fast about this part. Try not to impart bends in the wire by You can cut the wire off leaving about 10” remaining.
the finger or fingers that “lay” the wire in place. I used my right
index finger to lay the wire in place while turning the spool
with my left hand. You will find that you need to pry wraps of
wire to get a tight row and to get the last wrap of the row tight
against the plywood. I used a screwdriver with a flat bladed
end to pry gently – great care must be taken to not cut the
insulation of the wire. I used a small wood block to push the wire
down into the space created.
 Use an oak dowel and a rubber hammer to drive the
dowels one by one through the top plywood disk. Sand
Push the socket end of the cable tie down into the groove in the
or file this dowel (at least the first 1 !” or so) so it
wood disk so about !” of the tie sticks up above the wire.
doesn’t stick in the hole
Put the tongue end into the socket and pull to the left so the cable
is tight. Don’t over do it with the tightening as the tie can cut the
insulation. The cable tie in this picture has not been tightened yet.
The cable tie in the background has been pulled and tightened.
You can trim the excess length off all cable ties.
Hang the edge of the spool over
the edge of a work table or other solid
surface and hammer the dowels through All of the dowels are now through the
the top disk Once about 10 of the dowels top plywood disk.
are sticking out on the other side of the
spool – you can then just balance the
entire spool on those dowels to hammer
the rest of the dowels out without hanging
the spool over the edge of the workbench.
The work is almost finished. It
took 45 minutes to wrap this
coil. After making 50 coils I can
wrap the wire for a coil in 11
minutes.
Pry the coil off of the dowels with your fingers. If you
can’t budge the wire coil you will need to hammer some
dowels (hammer them to the left in this picture) so they
clear the coil for removal.
This is a fairly low inductance coil. It is 1 3/8”
wide and 1 !” thick.

The inductance is 4.39 micro henries (4.39mh) and

will be used for frequencies over 2000 Hz.
 Adding wire to a coil

Let’s assume that you finished wrapping a coil and have cut the wire coming
from the original roll of wire. Upon using your multimeter you find that the
inductance of the coil is 5.6 mh and you were expecting a value closer to 7.6 mh.
What to do is a question you will ask to no one in particular as you worry about
having to buy another roll of wire.

The next pictures show a simple jig you can make in a few minutes that will
allow you to splice the wire back onto the coil and continue wrapping to get a
thicker coil and therefore a higher inductance coil.
This jig is very simple. Start with a block of wood and screw two strips of wood to the block.
The gap between the strips should be about 1 !”. You should pre drill the screw holes so you
don’t split the strips. The strips should be at least !” thick. Cut two more identical strips and
clamp one to each strip and drill holes through both strips. Put arrows on the top strip to
show the orientation when both were drilled so you can reattach them. It helps to have A and B
or 1 and 2 on the top strips also. Cut a groove across the top strips that is wide enough
for 12 gauge wire but not as deep as the wire is thick so the wire can be clamped and held
down when you screw the strips together.
Its difficult to see in this picture but the end of the wire has been cut
The second wire has been angled and screwed down
at less than a 45 degree angle (cut the wire at a very shallow angle,
by its wood strip holder. Use needle nosed pliers to form
placed in the groove and the wood strip has been screwed to the strip
the joint so it is as smooth a transition as possible.
below to hold the wire in place.
Be sure to slip a piece of heat shrink tubing onto one of the
The wire stripper/cutter tool is ideal for cutting this angle. Regular
wires before placing them in the jig.
wire cutters can’t cut as nice an angle since they are designed
for just cross cutting.

The wire shown is the end of the coil wire that needs to be extended.
Use about a 3” length of a strand of stranded copper wire and tightly wrap the
strand around the splice. You can see how small the bump is where the two wires
meet. A large lump here would make your coil have a lump.
Here is the soldered joint. It is very strong and will
allow you to continue to wrap a thicker coil. Here the wires are out of the clamp.

Shown is a piece of heat shrink tubing that is long enough to

overlap the wire insulation on both sides. The last step is to
carefully heat the tubing with a propane torch, a candle, or
a lighter so it shrinks around your solder joint. Don’t over do
it since you certainly don’t want to melt the wire insulation.
If
you forget the heat shrink tubing you will have to cut the
joint off and start over.
 Soldering banana plugs to the coil’s 15 ft. speaker wire

Since the flanged ends of the banana plugs are delicate

Banana plugs – 12 gauge speaker wire is
soldered into the end of each plug. These are
available at Radio Shack. There is a small screw-in
adapter for smaller wire that I removed and
discarded.
you should not squeeze them with pliers. Here I used pliers and
taped the handles together with just enough pressure to hold the
plug so it can be soldered.
Heat the end of the banana plug with the soldering
It is easy to forget to put the red or black
iron. Hold the roll in the other hand and insert the end
plastic pieces onto the wire before soldering.
of the solder into the hole carefully so it melts and
Once the metal plug is soldered to the wire, the
almost fills the hole. While the solder is molten insert
plastic insulator cannot be put on the wire. When
the end of one of speaker wires (strip about 3/8”
the metal plugs cool, turn the plastic insulator onto the
of the insulation) into the hole and hold there until
threaded plugs. The other ends of the speaker wires
the solder hardens (about 10 seconds).
are connected to the two wires on the coil. It doesn’t
matter which of the coil wires are attached to the
red or black banana plugs, in fact you don’t need red
black plug covers at all since any color will work fine.
 Measuring your coil’s Inductance
There are two ways to measure the inductance of the coil
you wrapped.

The first method is to simply buy a multimeter that can

measure inductance. Since you will need a meter that also
measures alternating current accurately to monitor the
current flowing through the coil when in use, having the same
meter measure inductance is very handy. The meter will
have an H and mH on the dial for Inductance (measured in
Henries
• If you already have a True RMS multimeter you can measure your coil’s
inductance another way to avoid buying a meter that measures Inductance.
Your DCM must be operable to use this method since you need to turn it on
to measure your coil’s Inductance.
• Turn on the signal generator and set it for 470 Hz sine wave output.
• Turn on the 16 µf capacitor switch.
• Turn on your multimeter with the alligator clip lead wires connected to each
set of 5 resistors – set dial to V~ for alternating current.
• Turn on the amplifier and turn the 2 gain dials until the yellow lights come on
• Turn the large dial (clockwise or counterclockwise) on the signal generator
to change the frequency up or down to get the highest voltage reading on
your multimeter you can get. Record the frequency you dialed on the signal
generator when the multimeter reaches the highest voltage
• You can calculate the inductance with the formula below. .(the Inductance will be in
Henries which means that you will need to move the decimal place 3 places to the right to change the unit tomilliHenries – You can
now use the Excel freq cap switch calculator on the CD by typing in the Inductance to get the switches that need to be turned on for a
frequency you choose.)

• Inductance = 25330/Freq2 X 1/capacitance

You can use the following formula to calculate the capacitance you need for
each frequency you want to generate if you choose to do the calculations
manually.

Capacitance = 25330/Freq2 Inductance

The capacitance will be in microfarads, the frequency should be in Hertz, and

the Inductance should be in Henries. An excellent calculator can also be
found at www.opamplabs.com/cfl.htm.

The above calculation can be done with the Excel calculator

program called “freq cap calculator” given on the CD.
 Multimeter
A well built meter is the Wavetek Meterman 37XR. I purchased one from
Electronix Express at 1-800-972-2225 or at
http://www.elexp.com/tst_38xr.htm. An online search will produce many
other meters for lower prices, I chose to get one that also measures
inductance and because I like to buy tools. Meters are constantly discontinued
and relabeled so don’t get locked into buying a particular model.

I recommend searching online for best prices and free shipping. Goggle
removed the Froogle option but you can still sort items by price. Do a search
by model number and click the hypertext “Products” or “Shopping” at the top
left of the page. Click in the menu bar “by lowest price” and you will see
what is available. Sometimes searching like this is not absolute. I have
searched for an item with a opened catalog next to me and searches many
times don’t include the company whose catalog I have or their price.
One of the basic differences between expensive and the lowest cost
multimeters is that the ranges of things like voltage will be limited in the
cheapest meters. For example the range of voltage may be half as large on
a low cost meter. The number of functions that you can measure is larger
on the more expensive models also. Measuring inductance is great if you
build coils but the price of a meter that measures inductance just one time is
probably not necessary.
Shown is an example of meter at http://elexp.com/tst_205e.htm. There are
literally hundreds of meters that you can buy.
Range button moves the decimal
point

This is the dial setting for

voltage – alternating current Dial setting for measuring the inductance
of your coil (microhenries)

Plug the red test wire in

to this jack if you want to The black test wire plugs in here
measure the inductance
if your coil – note the H
For Henries.

The red test wire is plugged in here when

measuring voltage
 Amplifier
• The amplifier in the DCM is used to boost the power input to the coil. The
amplifier of choice among coil machine builders is the QSC RMX1850HD. The
HD represents “heavy duty.” The maximum power output is 1800 watts. The
maximum output of contact and other frequency devices is approximately 2 to
10 watts. This amplifier is loaded with circuit protection electronics so the risk of
overheating damage is reduced. It would be prudent to search for this amplifier
online and find the best current price. Many times shipping is free. When
searching you will find that many sites do not use the RMX in the name for the
amplifier – just QSC1850HD. The cost of this amplifier represents about 36% of
the total cost to build a DCM
 These terminals must be connected together with a piece of 12 gauge wire.

Run 12 gauge wire from here to one

of the terminals of the binding post
.
mounted on the switch panel. The coil
barrier strip (screws)
plugs into the binding post.
The red wire from the signal generator cable is attached to
to the top screw, the black wire from the signal generator
cable is attached to the 2nd screw and a wire loop must be used Run 12 gauge wire from here to the first
This is a bank of small to connect the 2nd and 3rd screws together. This mean that the set of 5 resistors
slider switches. Slide all 2nd screw down has two wires connected to it.
to the OFF position (left) .
except for the 2 switches
Run wire from here to the second set
labeled “parallel input
of 5 resistors (the side closest to the
#4 and #5 to the ON
amplifier). You can screw the plastic
position (right).
insulator out and fit 2 – 12 gauge wires
in the hole in the shaft (note that the top
black terminal will have 2 wires connected
to it. The 2 red and other black terminals
only have one wire connected there.
The input from a signal generator to the QSC185HD cannot be greater than
1.16 volts RMS (Root Mean Squared) or 3.34 volts peak to peak according
to the manual. If you use a signal generator other than the Instek SFG
2004 model be sure that the lowest output is as low as possible. The Instek
2004 lowest output is .1Hz which means that the lowest voltage output is
also very low. A better situation would be to have the lowest output be 0Hz
which would mean that the lowest voltage output is also zero.

RMS means that the entire sine wave is sampled and can be measured by
True RMS multimeters. You can usually choose the voltage output of your
signal generator - it can vary from some minimum value to as much as10v
and is measured peak to peak which is not the same thing as RMS voltage.
The peak to peak voltage is greater than the RMS voltage by a factor of
2.88. You cannot choose the minimum voltage output of your signal
generator.
 Switches
You can use regular house wall switches used for lights, etc. - they
require more space than toggle switches but they are much less expensive. I
chose to use toggle switches to reduce the size of the switch bank on the front
panel of my DCM and am very pleased with the result.

wall switch

Toggle switch
 The toggle switches I used for this tutorial were purchased from Action
Electronics.
http://www.action-lectronics.com/switches.htm?zoom_highlight=toggle+switches#Standard

I used the heavy duty 20 amp switch # 30-305 for this project but used #30-310
for my first DCM. I recommend the #30-310 or the switch listed below which is
the lowest cost switch I found online.
http://www.alliedelec.com/Catalog/Indices/MfrLandingPage.asp?N=4294931389&Supplier=Carling_Technologies&sid=46C788005FB8E17
F

The part number is 683-0049. This is the same company where I purchased the capacitors.
This is the back of the switch panel. I used tape to apply the switch labels to aid in wiring. Since each
capacitor array is labeled with letters B thru P, it makes sense to label the switches also.
Since my DCM structure is a cart, this panel will be secured on the second shelf of the cart.

An alternative to the cart is shown in the last section of the tutorial – a frame and panel cabinet.
This the front of the switch panel. Each switch should be labeled with the
capacitance and the letter A thru P. The red and black plugs on the left are
the binding posts where the coil is plugged in for use. A Word document
on the CD called “cap switch labels” prints a set of labels for you.

Shown are two banana plugs

that will be soldered onto the ends
of the speaker wires connected
to the coil. Each coil has its own
15 feet of speaker wire and
banana plugs.

The binding post. The !” plywood switch

panel ends up between the red and black
plates shown on the right. The switches and
binding posts are designed for panels up to
!” in thickness or thinner.
 Capacitors
• A capacitor is an electronic device that stores an electric charge to a certain
level and then releases it. Capacitance, or the amount of current that is
stored, is measured in farads or in our case with the DCM in microfarads
(1/1,000,000th of 1 farad). The DCM uses 15 capacitor combinations of
single capacitors or combinations of capacitors that are connected to 15
switches – altogether 26 capacitors are used. There are really 16 switches
but one is not connected to any capacitors (switch A). The switches are
labeled with the capacitance value of the capacitors connected to that
switch and by letters A through P. A Microsoft Word document is provided
on this CD that when printed will provide you with labels for your switches (a
glue stick is a good way to stick the labels to the panel your switches are
mounted on).

• Capacitors are used in the DCM to store and release electric charge which
produces the alternating magnetic field in the coil. The capacitor voltage is
180 degrees out of phase with the voltage output of the amplifier and when
these voltages are equal you have achieved resonance in the coil. This
means that the two voltages cancel each other out which produces the
magnetic field and resistance which results in the heating of the coil.
A resonating coil is necessary in the DCM which is the reason for using
capacitors. Connecting capacitors together can be done in parallel or series
connections. Imagine a train composed of many individual cars or units.
The front of each car is connected to the back of the car in front –
connecting capacitors in this manner would be a series of capacitors. Now
imagine that two trains are next to each other on their separate tracks. Now
if the front of a car in train 1 is connected to the front of a car in train 2 ( the
backs are connected also) you would have created train cars in parallel –
connecting capacitors in this way produces parallel capacitors.

Adding the capacitance values of capacitors in series is different than

adding them in parallel circuits. If you use the capacitors given in this
tutorial you will not have to calculate capacitance values since they are
given. If you decide to add additional capacitors to your DCM such as large
capacitors to generate lower frequencies or very small capacitance
capacitors to generate higher frequencies, you will need to calculate
capacitance values.
• If you only use the capacitors given in this tutorial you can skip this slide,
but if you put different capacitors in your DCM or are curious – read on.

• Adding capacitance of parallel capacitors is simple – just add them together.

• For example: if you have capacitors of 16 µf and .062 µf connected in

parallel, the capacitance of this array is 16.062 µf. Your label on the
switch connected to this array of capacitors should be labeled 16.062 µf.

• If you have capacitors in series – train cars in a line - the adding of

capacitance values is done differently. For example: if you have 3
capacitors each of 3µf capacitance in series – the total capacitance is:
• Total Cap. = (1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3) = 3/3 or 1 µf The toggle switch connected to
this series of capacitors should be labeled 1µf.
• Why do I need to have some capacitors in series and others in parallel
mode?
• The answer is that you need to have a list of enough capacitances to add
together and be able to match any capacitance required by any frequency
you choose. A DCM cannot actually produce all frequencies by turning
capacitors on, just those between approximately 230 Hz +/- and 2000 Hz
+/-. The +/- means that your coil’s inductance will determine how far above
2000 and below 230 you will attain.
• For example: If you choose to generate a frequency of 625 HZ you would
need a capacitance of 7.619 µf with an 8.51 mh coil, but what if you only
had 5 capacitors connected to 5 switches with capacitance values of 16, 8,
4, 2, and .1 µf. You would not have the right capacitances to add together
to have a total of 7.619 µf. So capacitors are connected together so you
can attain enough capacitance values that allow you to match almost any
capacitance needed for the frequencies the DCM can produce. It would be
possible and perhaps useful to expand the list with additional capacitors and
switches to “fill in the gaps” of the list but when you actually use your DCM
you’ll find that the capacitance list is very adequate.
So to answer the question again – you
need a variety of capacitances so their
values cover the range of the ones you • 30 µf B
need for your required frequencies. The • 16 µf C
• 8 µf D
list on the right is very adequate for a
• 4 µf E
DCM. • 2 µf F
• 1 µf G
• .5 µf H
For example: Examine this list of the
• .25 µf I
capacitances used in this tutorial for the • .122 µf J
building of a coil machine. If you choose • .062 µf K
• .033 µf L
a frequency that required a capacitance
• .015 µf M
of 2.662 µf you would have to turn on the • .010 µf N
switches with capacitances of 2, .5, .122, • .007 µf O
• .005 µf P
.033, and .007 to give a total of 2.662 µf.
You would flip the toggle switches F,H,J,
L, and O to the up or on position.
.
Here is a photo of the front of a coil machine. Notice that there are 16
toggle switches each labeled with the capacitance of the capacitors
connected to that switch. If you add all the switch capacitance values you get a
total of 62uf. A frequency requiring a greater capacitance than 62uf cannot be
done by using the switches. Instead you can use the A switch alone for any
Frequency lower than about 230Hz that requires a capacitance higher than
62uf.

This is the binding post

where you plug in the coil

switches A - H

switches I - P
Switch Labels – The CD contains a Word document titled “cap switch “labels”
that will print a set of labels for your 16 switches
A no cap K .062µf
B 30µf L .033µf
C 16µf M .015µf
D 8µf N .01µf
E 4µf O .007µf
F 2µf P .005µf
G 1µf
H .5µf
I .25µf
J .122µf
 Making capacitor arrays

There are 16 toggle switches on a typical DCM and are each connected to
single capacitors or capacitors in series or parallel connections. Toggle
switch A is the only switch not connected to any capacitors. When it is
turned on all the other capacitors are inactive. In the next slides we will
build 2 mounting platforms for all of the capacitor circuits. These platforms
are nothing more than two pieces of birch plywood that are held in an
upright position on a shelf. This provides a large amount of surface area for
spacing of the capacitors without needing very much flat surface area as in
shelves. The picture on the next page shows the upright panels with all of
the capacitors attached on the second shelf of the first cart I made. You
could easily eliminate the cart and build a box or cabinet structure that could
hold the capacitor panels. The most important feature is that the switches
must be mounted on a !” thick panel so they can be wired to the
capacitors. A panel for the switches could also just be supported by framing
wood – the switch panel must be 1/4” thick to accommodate the toggle
switches and binding post.
To start building capacitor arrays I cut two panels (15” x 9”) of birch plywood
left over from another project. There is nothing special about this panel size
except that everything fits on the 4 available sides and there is adequate
space between all components.

Back of the binding post. The coil

plugs in on the front (the other side)
of this panel

This wire is going from the

left terminal of the binding post
to the negative output terminal
on the back of the amplifier which
is on the shelf below.
The two panels are shown here. The far left panel has the 2 sets
of resistors on the hidden side. This is a view from the back of the cart
so the switches are all just to the left of the binding post
 This is .062” rosin core solder and is a good size to
use for this project. Shown is a 1 pound spool but much
less is required to do all the soldering for a DCM. I got this
spool at Radio Shack. Make sure that you get non-lead
solder (which is tin and antimony).
Velleman
Soldering Station
Model VTSS5U
http://www.elexp.com/sdr_ss5u.htm

This is an example of an inexpensive soldering iron with

temperature control from 374 to 896 F. A handy feature
is the black tube for holding the hot iron when you are
busy getting the next connection ready.

Cable ties and cable tie mounting bases (Home Depot and Lowe’s).
You could eliminate these bases by simply drilling holes in the plywood
panels and using cable ties to hold the capacitors in place.
In a setting with children or pets you might consider building a box so all
electrical components are out of view. Some wires are not insulated such as
the ones attached to capacitors and resistors. These are bare and electrified
when the coil machine is in use plus capacitors store electric charge and may
be dangerous to touch well after you turn the components off You may have to
wrap protective insulating tape around these wires. A cart with exposed
electrified wires would not be a good idea if children have access to the cart.

The only items that gets warm are the two sets of resistors. None of the
capacitors have gotten warm with use of the coil machine.
As many doug coil builders did before me, I used the standard 26 capacitors given in this list. I ordered them from
Allied Electronics at www.alliedelec.com.
The total order quantities and part numbers are given below.
1 - #225-5010
3 - #591-7045
1 - #591-7025
2 – #591-4205
3 - #591-4200
2 - #591-6085
2 - #591-6075
1 - #591-6175
1 - #591-6165
1 - #591-6160
1 - #591-6155
5 - #591-6150
3 - #591-6145

The list given on the next page shows the capacitors that will be connected to each toggle switch . I recommend
that you do not dump all the capacitors out of their bags when the box arrives. Each bag is labeled with the part #
and each capacitor is labeled with the capacitance but not the part #. I found it much easier to search through the
bags for the part number – then remove that capacitor, search any others that belong in that connection – connect
the capacitors, mount them to the shelf, panel, or whatever you are using and then go to the next array. The
majority of the switches have only one capacitor in the circuit so the term “array” may not strictly apply as
commonly used.
Switch Capacitance Quantity/connection Allied Elec. Part

no capacitors used for this

A none switch
B 30 µf 1 / one capacitor used 225-5010
C 16 µf 2 / 8 µf in parallel 591-7045
D 8 µf 1 / one capacitor used 591-7045
E 4 µf 1 / one capacitor used 591-7025
F 2 µf 2 / 4 µf in series 591-4205
G 1 µf 3 / 3 µf in series 591-4200
H .5 µf 2 / 1 µf in series 591-6085
I .25 µ 2 / 0.47 in series with 591-6075
1 / 0.015 µf in parallel 591-6150
J .122 µf 1 / 0.1 µf in parallel with 591-6175
1 / 0.022 µf 591-6155
K .062 µf 1 / 0.047 µf in parallel with 591-6165
1 / 0.015 µf 591-6150
L .033 µf 1 / one capacitor used 591-6160
M .015 µf 1 / one capacitor used 591-6150
N .01 µf 1 / one capacitor used 591-6145
O .007 µf 2 / 0.015 µf in series 591-6150
P .005 µf 2 / 0.01 µf in series 591-6145
These capacitors can be
ordered from
www.alliedelec.com