How long?

[Achiles]

Hi p.makers,how long do you take to assemble a HB(bobin winded)and what is the sequence("step by step").

[David Schwab]

too long! I have a hard time putting those damn things together....

[ken]

I HATE dealing with the hookup wires myself, I can never get the wire to sit straight in the bobbin so I can wind over it without a lot of lumps in my coils.

Ken

[Possum]

Woofie

Wolfe claims he can do a whole bucker in 3 minutes, I'm waiting for the video proof myself :-) I'm pretty slow myself, but getting faster...

[David Schwab]

I HATE dealing with the hookup wires myself, I can never get the wire to sit straight in the bobbin so I can wind over it without a lot of lumps in my coils.

That's my problem too. I get that big lump. I've tried all kinds of way to avoid it.
I got it pretty good by not having the hookup wire under the winding, but then it breaks too easily.

I have a couple of humbuckers home.. I think they are Fenders. They solved the problem by having a circuit board under each bobbin which they attach the magnet wire and hookup wires to.

Not "vintage", but more convenient. I do something similar with my bass pickups.

It aggravated me so much that I decide not to wind PAF style humbuckers! I do have a Gibson Tim Shaw humbucker home I'm rewinding for a friend. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm going to try and do a neat job!

[JGundry]

I have a jig that lets me put the pole screws in straight with an electric drill, without tapping. That saves quite a bit of time.

What you do is drill two holes in a short piece ot 2"x 4" that correspond to the bobbin base plate mounting holes. Use a bobbin as a guide for drilling. Then drive two rods of the same diameter into the hole. Make the rods long enough for about 6 bobbins to be stacked on them. Then drill out 5 or six bobbins to the size of the pole screw head. Put one or two of the drilled out bobbins through the rods as a base. Make sure the have the ends of the bobbin flange rimmed off. You are going to place your wound bobbin on it and you don't want the pigtail lead to get pinched. Then put your wound bobbin through the rods. Then stack 2 or 3 (I forget how many it takes) of the drilled out bobbins on top of wound bobbin. It needs to be tall enough that when you drop a screw trough the hole that the fillister head is within the drilled out bobbin. Drop a screw in each hole and put a bit of the correct size into your cordless drill. Drill down as far as you can then remove one of the dummy drilled out bobbins and screw them in some more. Do this until they are all screwed in. The screws will end up perfectly straight and there is no chance of nicking the bobbin with the drill and no tapping. It is super quick. I will try and post some pics when I get a chance.

[JGundry]

Here are some pics of the jig.

[Pep]

How much faster do you figure that method is as opposed to tapping the holes? Just curious. It looks like it works well.

[Satamax]

I HATE dealing with the hookup wires myself, I can never get the wire to sit straight in the bobbin so I can wind over it without a lot of lumps in my coils.

Ken

i everybody!

Ken, and David, i'm pretty dim, and not a winder, but when i have something moving that i don't want to move i frequently use super glue, wouldn't that work in your case? Which way does it have to sit? Horizontal? Vertical? Flat on the backing? I don't know if you've seen it on your side, but here some german makers used eyelets on the backing to hold magnet wire and hookup wire together.

Bye.

Max.

[WolfeMacleod]

Wolfe claims he can do a whole bucker in 3 minutes, I'm waiting for the video proof myself :-) I'm pretty slow myself, but getting faster...

Cripes, I wish! What did I say to give you that idea?
To wind one bobbin: about one minute to mount the bobbin and do solder/secure the lead.
The wind the coil, about 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
So, about six minutes to wind two coils, counting the time it takes to remove the wound coil, mount the next bobbin, and attatch the lead.

Leading and taping the coils, about three minutes each.
So we're up to about 12 minutes. I'll add another minute to test the coil, and grab the next coil...so say 13 minutes.
Once the coils are taped and leaded, I can assemble a humbucker in about seven minutes.
So...20 minutes, give or take a minute or two, if I'm working fast.

[Possum]

????

Wow where DID I get that idea? My image of you is totally blown now :-) I think I just remembered the taping and adding leads part, duh. Still is pretty fast.....

[David Schwab]

i everybody!

Ken, and David, i'm pretty dim, and not a winder, but when i have something moving that i don't want to move i frequently use super glue, wouldn't that work in your case? Which way does it have to sit? Horizontal? Vertical? Flat on the backing? I don't know if you've seen it on your side, but here some german makers used eyelets on the backing to hold magnet wire and hookup wire together.

It's not a problem with the wire moving... you solder the magnet wire to the lead, and tape the connection. Then you have to lay the lead wire flat against the inside of the bobbin, and thread the end through one of the holes. I sometimes use a little tape to hold that in place.

The problem Ken and I have, is that once you start winding, you get a lump from the magnet wire winding over the lead wire.

I've taken apart Gibson pickups, and they don't seem to do it much different... from what I remember, which might be off a bit. But I'll be unwinding one real soon... So there must be a way to get around the lump problem.

For my bass pickups I use a little hot melt glue here and there to hold things in place, plus I have solder pads on the flatwork to make my connections.

I suppose the humbucker thing just takes practice... But that step is the hardest for me. The winding part is fairly easy. And once I have all the lead wires tucked in, assembling and taping the pickup up is a breeze. But my first couple of humbuckers took a few tries to get it right.

[David Schwab]

I have a jig that lets me put the pole screws in straight with an electric drill, without tapping. That saves quite a bit of time.

Do most of you guys tap the holes? I just use a power screw driver to screw them in... I go slow because they get quite hot to the touch. A little soap on the threads is an old trick that helps a bit. I can see where tapping would help.

[Mystic]

I cover the bobbins with blue painters tape to protect them. From start to finish (including winding), It takes me 2 to 3 hours... My winder takes about 10 minutes per coil.

[Zhangliqun]

I prefer to grind a little off the end of the bobbin (between the flanges) and set the start lead vertical against the end instead of parallel with the side. I then put three layers of coil tape over it to keep the corner fairly round and soft so there's no undue stress on the coil wire.

The one down side of this is that end of the bobbin won't be able to hold as much wire, crucial when you're trying to get 4.5k+ of 42 on the bobbin. But I've figured a way to make taller bobbins that hold more wire so it isn't such a problem now.