BUZZ COIL SPARKER

During one of the first couple days in January I went to Cutler Cycle and Mower and bought a new snow blower to replace the one that has that been in use for the past 27 years. It still worked OK, but I wanted to treat myself to something new.

While I was there, I was able to acquire some magneto coils from lawn mower type engines. They can be converted to make ignitions systems for model gas engines, and even full size ones for that matter.

 The first step is to check it out to make sure it is good. It was.

Then a small wooden box is constructed and everything stuffed inside. Also a set of buzz points and some terminal screws.

After all that, it is time for testing so an old battery that has been sitting around for ages was pulled out. The meter indicated 6 Volts, but it only produced a puny weak spark and then quit altogether. How disappointing.This is the 4th system I've built so I knew it should do better than that. A trip to the hardware store for a new battery proved it. Look at the video.

These little buzz coils are a facsimile of the buzz coils used in Model T Ford cars and Fordson tractors. They produce an almost continuous arc rather than a snap spark supposedly providing more positive ignition.
 If desired these coils can be hooked up to provide a single snap spark too. The model Atkinson in the previous posting is wired that way.