Thanks for the replies. I also found an excellent article that covers many of the same principles.
http://www.ledex.com/basics/basics.html
Also a calculator:
http://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/Magnets/Solenoid-Force-Calculator.phtml
kf2qd:
To get more current flow you can cut your magnet wire into smaller pieces and wind them in parallel. If you cut your wire into 3 pieces you would have a 50 ohm coil. 5 pieces a 30 ohm coil. 10 pieces a 15 ohm coil.
Would these parallel sections be physically adjacent to each other (i.e. side by side along the length of the coil)?
jackrae:
Third, don't even think about using mains power - you clearly do not have the knowledge (and I'm not being disrespectful)
No disrespect taken. I am actually quite comfortable with mains power in 'regular' application. I know enough to see that my 150 Ohm coil would only draw around 1A (which I now know is not enough). So cutting the resistance in half or a third might do the trick, but then the question is about heat dissipation.