Help Finding a Transformer Core Part

[Joshua Guertler]

Greetings,

A few minutes ago I received the dreaded email from someone who bought my old x-ray transformer saying that he received it in shambles. By the looks of it, USPS gave it the old beat down, so much do that the actual box itself broke open during shipping.

Fortunately, the core itself is pretty easily repairable (it's one of those slide-together tab set ups). However, it would seem that USPS lost about 10 of those little guys. I promised the buyer that I'd find out what they're called and where I can buy them from. I've attached images below of the tabs and what an assembled transformer would look like

Any help finding these pieces would be immensely appreciated. I'm very fearful that this incident could scar my credibility with the whole eBay process and maybe even the forum. Likewise, any help that people could provide to help me find this piece would be immensely appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joshua Guertler

[Rich Feldman]

Sorry to hear about the transformer damage. I've received damaged goods via UPS and Fed Ex as well as the USPS, and often felt the problem started with inadequate packing. You're lucky to have received your NST in one piece, if it was shipped without a wooden crate or double boxing or large pieces of very stiff foam to protect the bushings. One simple test when sending something: would you hesitate to drop the box a couple of feet onto concrete floor, then repeat it upside down, then repeat it sideways? Would you check it as luggage for an airplane trip, which is generally less rigorous than parcel delivery services?

Back to your picture: it looks like what's missing is some flat sheets of transformer steel.
Not hard to replace if you can state the exact thickness (I don't know if there are standards in the industry) and the length and width. Maybe some reader here, like me, can spare some from junk parts, if thickness can be matched.
For best resolution of thickness, get measurement of whole stack and number of layers.

[Joshua Guertler]

Greetings,

Thank you for getting back to be on the matter. It's truly an unfortunate incident, however I'm doing my best to make it right for the buyer.

The metal is about 0.014" thick, 1 5/16" wide, and 2 15/16" long. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Joshua Guertler

[Richard Hull]

Pieces of lamination from the core. Now to the lamentations. not good.

Richard Hull

[John Futter]

Pull a MOT apart for spare laminations
you can cut with tin snips or similar

[Rich Feldman]

I think any core with flat laminations of the right thickness, at least as wide and long as the missing parts, will do.
They aren't hard to take apart and delaminate, even if welded.

It might take some looking around to find a suitable transformer to cannibalize.
The MOT I checked (a relatively small one) had laminations about 0.020" or 0.5mm thick, and the center leg of the E sections was a bit narrower than 1 5/16". MOT's, and I bet most dental XRT's, are designed for compactness and lightness at the expense of efficiency.

Here are a few other kinds of scrap transformers that can be found around town.
NST's. Low voltage lighting transformers. Uninterruptable power supplies. Car battery chargers. Pre-switchmode DC power supplies. Power supply and output transformers from vacuum-tube audio and radio gear.