Does Coil wind direction matter?

[swooshcmk]

Hello all,
This is my first post here, but I've used this site as a valuable source of information for quite some time. Thanks to all those who make this a great place! I'm hoping someone with greater knowledge than I can help me on this.

I'm winding new coils for a 1920's era hit and miss engine magneto. It's a Webster Tri Polar magneto

http://www.old-engine.com/maglma.htm

- second mag down under "Oscilating magnetos" Basically the "hoop" on top is a horse shoe shaped magnet, and each side of the magneto body is an E core with the E's facing each other. The rotor sits between these two E cores and is snapped to rotate between them to (I'm assuming) break down/create the magnetic field to fire. The coils are wrapped around the poles of the two E cores.

I don't have a problem with winding them. I have the enameled wire (26AWG as original) and I have forms made up to wind them on, and I have a small lathe to use to spin the forms in. What I AM curious of is does the direction of coil winds matter? Example - If one were to look from the north pole of the magnet towards the south pole, should both coils be wound in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction? Would having one be clockwise and the other counterclockwise not work? Or are they supposed to be opposite directions? The coils are hooked up in series with one end grounded to the magneto body, the other out to the spark plug.

Lastly, the original coils were wrapped in a cloth tape and I'm assuming lacquered or enameled as a glue. My intent is to wind the coil and use a brush-on type electrical tape. Any negatives to this? It's supposed to be good for vibration and never crack or peel, and it sure beats trying to feed feet of electrical tape through the coils center! The coils don't move and it likely won't see large amounts of run time.

Can anyone provide some insight on the coil direction issue for me please?

Thank you for your time!
Chris Kleman

 

[IRstuff]

Right Hand Rule should tell you which way you need to wind the coil.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[swooshcmk]

So then I assume that to mean both coils need to be the same direction, and that they should be wrapped in the direction so that with the fingers following the direction of the wind the thumb points to the N pole of the magnet?

Chris

 

[waross]

You can always change the polarity by switching the connections. In fact, it is a good idea to energise them from a battery and check to see that one is north and that one is south. Do this before installing them on the horshoe magnets. If both are the same polarity switch the leads on one coil.
respectfully