Was the fried Variac in electronics ever replaced?

Electronics
#1

I need to characterize some surplus toroids so I can roll my own transformer.
To do this I plan to wind a 5 turn primary and a five turn secondary and drive it with a buffered output from a function generator. Push it till it saturates and graph, rinse and repeat.

There used to be a 450VA variac in the electronics lab that some knowledge challenged individual fried, and the committee did not have enough money to replace. Was that ever replaced?
Thanks
Steve

And while I am thinking about it, is there any interest in a class in transformer winding?
This is usually something that is so labor intensive, that people avoid it unless they need drama levels of voltage or power.

#2

I’d definitely be interested in a transformer wiring class or motor winding class. My particular interest however would be a ‘transformer’ such that one winding is inside the other winding and that the inner windings coupling to the out winding can be varied simply by pushing / pulling the inner winding in / out of the outer winding. Essentially a variable inductor with isolation.

#3

Come to think of it, I have a need for solenoids, too.

#4

I’d take such a class.

#5

Yes, I believe Art told me someone repaired the variac. However, if that turns out to not be the case, let me know and I can loan you one.

#6

Yes, it was repaired. The switch gave out saving the coils. @dr_cee Chuck Baber replaced the switch and all is good. We have other variacs in the ELab - bare bones and I think lower current rating. I have one at home rated 20-25 A if needed.

We also have APT VariPlus 105 variable AC pwr sply 50/60 hz
@wandrson and I used it to do this:

Edit - FYI it’s located here:

variac_loc.jpg866×634 115 KB

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