Any ideas on what this custom built test equip is? variac/iso trans?

[guy232]

I've been searching around my local area for equipment to add to my bench and stumbled upon this:

(Note: I added labels to help point out the smaller details)
http://imgur.com/a/pdcYNmo

The seller doesn't know much about it besides that her husband built it for "research on the effect of oersted on magnetic particle inspection".

With my limited knowledge it appears to be an isolation transformer or variac type device but I'm not sure so I thought I would post the internals and see if anyone had any ideas.

The internals appear to be neatly set up but not sure if this is something I should avoid or consider.

Cheers.

[Ian.M]

Its a variac, so it doesn't provide any isolation.   Wired to cover 0 to above 120V (boost) with a suitable miniature circuit breaker matching the transformer current rating (which can be a bit complex for variacs as their rating depends on the wiper position), it could be a very handy bit of kit if you are into small appliance repair or designing and developing mains input PSUs.

It appears to be fairly nicely put together, and having both voltage and current meters is an advantage, but if you are short of cash and haven't yet got a decent temperature controlled soldering iron, bench PSU, a decent DMM and a usable scope, unless its a very good bargain you may want to skip this one.  N.B. Variac prices are heavily dependent on the current rating.  Did you photo the terminal plate of the variac itsself, which probably had some data or a model number on it?  If not, what was the max scale reading on the ammeter?