Counters

[NightWinder]

What would you say is the best accurate counter? Hall Effect? Simple reed switch and led? Value for performance too : )
Thanks

[Possum]

thoughts...

I use the Adams Maxwell winders and don't wind over 2000rpm if that, these have the typical grey mechanical counters with shut off mechanism, they seem bulletproof and reliable. If you're going to wind at really fast speeds maybe the elctronic type might make more sense. winding faster though you run into alot of problems getting tension right, what seems like really low tension at 1000rpm suddenly gets real tight at 4krpm.

[Joe Gwinn]

What would you say is the best accurate counter? Hall Effect? Simple reed switch and led? Value for performance too
Thanks

All good counters are equally accurate. They either counted each and every turn, or they missed them, usually by a lot.

I bet 90% of the problems people have had with electronic counters were actually due to the mechanism that turned rotations into an electrical signal that can be counted. Electronic counters are fast enough to see lots of little jumps that a mechanical counter will ignore.

Mechanical counters have the opposite problem, that many counters cannot follow if one winds too fast. For a coil winder, the odometer-like counters are more likely to be able to keep up.

[David King]

I have a very sophisticated electronic counter connected to a microswitch that rides on a cam. It can't count for shit at any speed over 600 rpm, I've seen it jump 10's at a time. The counter has a de-bouncer circuit setting that limits the count speed. I'm thinking that any form of electronic switching will improve the accuracy but I can't tell you which is best or cheapest but i don't think a reed-switch will do it. Hall sensors and optical systems seem to run about $3 ea from Mouser or Digikey.

[JGundry]

I use a reed switch and a Cub4L000 triggered by a Radio Shack rare earth magnet epoxied to the winder base plate. I run it at 1200RPM and it is dead accurate. I think it is hard to get a much cheaper and accurate set-up than this. The Cub 4 has a debounce circuit in it and is lithium powered. Plus you can hook up your DMM to it and set it to frequency to get the RPM you are running at. I got mine here. http://www.plccenter.com/BasicSearch...tring=cub4L000

For my Leesona 102 I am going to use a Red Lion Libra counter so I can have auto shut off. I think I will use a hall effect sensor for that because it is more reliable long term. The reed switch has a limited life span. Can anyone recommend a hall affect sensor that is threaded?

[David Schwab]

I think the microswitch is the problem. An optical circuit would probably work better IMO.

[mkat]

I'm currently using a kit counter with a reed switch and this setup is spot on too. I usually wind between 800 - 1000 RPM. My winder can do 1200 RPM, but it starts to vibrate as I haven't secured it yet.

[Peter Naglitsch]

I would really recomend an industrial type electronic proximity switch like one of these:
http://www.automation.siemens.com/si...r_induktiv.htm
or similar. The price should be around 20$ or so and well woth the money (OK, I work for Siemens so I access to ex demo stuff...). I run this to an electronic counter and I have no problems running up to 2000rpm. My faceplate is MDF and I simply countersunk a screw into the edge, filled with putty and the proximity switch feels the screw every turn. For the winder I'm buiding right now I have found a really nice motor with integrated pulse output. I have high hopes that I will be able to use that instead of a separate switch.

David King: I second that it is probably the micro switch that is your problem. I used to sell those and a typical micro swithc has a contact bounc of about 5 to 8 bounces!. That is what the debouncing circuitry is for. But it also eliminate any higher rpms.

[SkinnyWire]

I use an optical sensor to feed a high speed digital (LCD) counter though I normally wind at a fairly low speed. For some reason, most folks here seem to scoff at the optical approach - at least they have whenever I mention it. Doesn't cost that much, and I like minimizing the number of moving parts (a.k.a., stuff that wears out). I think with some folks, it's like having a PC instead of a Mac. They like the "badge of honor" that comes with knowing how to spend hours removing viri and "rebuilding" their systems.

The counters (totalizers) built by Veeder-Root, Omron, Eaton-Durant, etc., can normally be found on eBay at reasonable cost. They can be expensive at retail, but I purchased 3 new Veeder-Root totalizers for 1/4 cost for a single unit at retail by keeping my eye on eBay. They range in size from small to big. Mine are 2.5"x1.5" over the face ... something like that. An $8 optical sensor, a couple of resistors and a wall wart finish a reliable high speed counter.

Sick of arguing about it though, so YMMV.

[chevalij]

Like Skinnywire, I use an ebay Cub3 counter and feed it with a Fairchild optoswitch. It will count faster than my winder can turn I'll tell you that, I think the optoswitch starts to bog down around 600,000 rpm, so be careful. I used a radioshack wall wart, built a voltage divider network to feed the optoswitch. Total cost about $25. You can check out the $2.07 optoswitch at:
http://www.newark.com/jsp/Optoelectr...equestid=97381

[David Schwab]

I think with some folks, it's like having a PC instead of a Mac. They like the "badge of honor" that comes with knowing how to spend hours removing viri and "rebuilding" their systems.

Heh!

I always like the "Mac is a toy" line, and then I open up the terminal and type "top"... that always wows them. Yeah, a BSD UNIX toy.

And speaking of toys...

I think the optical counter in the (toy-like) Schatten is very well executed. It' a very simple affair, just a disk on the drive axle with a hole in it, a LED on one side of the hole and an optical sensor on the other. No moving parts except the disk.

You need a light tight enclosure around the counter, but that's not too hard to do.

[R.G.]

Four Digit Counter

Tachometer

PIC Programmer

Reflective Opto Sensor - Fairchild QRB1114: $1.05 each

PIC 16F628A-I/P-ND: $3.35 each

Quad Digit Seven-segment display: $2.50 each

A little programming gets you a count up and down for forward and reverse turns of the spindle.