hello from a new member

[brewster51]

hello new member bewster here from cali. dipping my toes into the world of winding pickups so far i must say it is a very humbling experience. Have not had any good results. Built a very nice winder from old turntable parts and it works great but i can not get the wire off the spool without it breaking. It seems i can get 1500 winds and thn pop goes the wire...thinking this may be more frustrating then golf. nice to be here....

[Mick Bailey]

Hi and welcome. You're getting 1500, so there's no real reason that you shouldn't get a full wind. First thing - are you running the wire off the end of the spool? Secondly, what's the RPM of your winder? It takes a little practice to get up to full speed and be able to feel the wire tension, so IMHO it's best to use a lower speed until you build up experience. Assuming you have nothing snagging your wire, is the bobbin running true and do you have adjustable stops to limit the sideways excursion?

[brewster51]

Have been going slow 600 rpm or so and it seems the problems occur when the wire gets to the end of the spool. It takes a bit of work to get it off the spool and the wire seems to break. Seems there is a fairly steep learning curve to master this. Thanks for the reply and will keep at it..

[big_teee]

Lots of varibles.
Picture of your wire un-spooling setup would help.
Are you setting the spool on the floor end up, or roll it off the end horizontally from behind you?
Is it a tapered spool or a standard straight spool.
I got a bad roll once, on one end when it got to the end, it was overlapped and would break.
I ended swapping out the roll for a new one.
Here is the very document I read when I started winding a long time back.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/a...s-pu-specs.pdf
There is lots of stuff on the resources thread in the Beginner/Hobbyist sub-forum.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t30228/
T

[brewster51]

It seems it is a straight spool i have it beside me on a bit of an angle like frailin used for his tupperware setup. The wire company thinks it is a bad spool so a new one is in route seems to break when you get to the end where it seems to overlap that small bit of drag causes the break. Is it easier to use smaller spools 2 lb instead of 5. When it works everything seems to work smooth. Thanks to everyone sure appreciate the input.

[Mick Bailey]

I like larger spools. I find the wire comes off the spool much more smoothly and doesn't twist around as much.

[David King]

The spool you have might got dropped hard in transit and that caused the wire layers to shift around. If it was a small spool, a couple of pounds or less it was probably respooled from a larger spool and the respooling caused the problem. Factory fresh spools are usually in the 6-12 pound range. Lastly check the inside edges of the flanges to make sure there are no rough spots or burrs that could snag the wire. (You probably did this first.) I'm glad the wire co is sending you a new spool and not trying to blame you for their (likely) screw-up.

[brewster51]

Thanks so much for all the help it is really helpful. Seems it is the wire it gets hung up on the very bottom of the spool where it seems to overlap just a bit too much tension and thus a break. The rest of the gizmo all seems to be working found that a fishing downrigger realese is just the ticket for a tension controller. I hope i will soon have success i getting a complete pup made., What an adventure.,thanks again everyone.

[brewster51]

Well a new spool new hope. What a difference a spool that unwinds makes..a bad spool was the problem have made 3 pickups this afternoon and no breaks the machine works like a charm. Now to dial in that pesky tension thing so i can get some consistant numbers on the hm meter.. we are on our way...

[epizootics]

Welcome to the board & the wonderful world of tiny wire.
Hang on in there! It'll take over your life and give you a bad eyesight...but it'll totally be worth it!

[brewster51]

Well with a new spool of wire all is good but my 12 dollar magnet counter has a tizzy fit if i go over 350 400 rpm. Anyone suggest a reliable counter that will work at 1000 rpm or so. How do you mount one without a magnet this is a work in progress to get it dialed in.. thanks again for all your help

[brewster51]

Well a digiten counter is headed back to amazon. The info says it should count at 10 revs per second. Well it struggles to get 2 so a speed of 120 rpm aint gonna cut it guess i should look at digital but i can't grasp how they work. The magnet setup is simple. Well the hunt for a counter goes on.,

[David King]

brewster,

Look through the winder/ equipment section of the forum up at the top. You'll find hundreds of threads about missed counts and how to hook up an optical counter which should be much more reliable. First off check eBay for a digital preset counter, 4 digits will get you to 9999 turns which covers most pickups but certainly not all. A 6 digit counter like this CG7-RB60 6 Bit Preset Counter 72WX72HX100L+ E6B2-CWZ6C 360P/R ABZ Omron Encoder | eBay that comes complete with an optical encoder might save you some time (though I have no idea how the encoder is set up and it may be totally inappropriate). What you do is search the part numbers via google and look for the part's "data sheet" which should tell you everything you need to know. If you don't speak "engineer" you might want to seek help here and someone can probably help you decipher it.
If you are winding at faster speeds you need to focus on the "dwell time" of the system you use to cog the counter. Ideally you want your pulses to have a 50% dwell i.e., as much up time as down time per revolution. If your pulses are too short the counter will start to interpret them as bounces and not bone fide counts and filter them out at higher speeds. Most counters have two speed settings, say a 1k and a 10k Hz depending on how fast your counting needs to go.
A Preset counter comes with a relay circuit that can shut down your motor when the count has been achieved. I find it handy though my winder overshoots by about 15 turns at 1200 RPM. I just subtract 15 from the preset and hit the mark.

[brewster51]

Thanks for the help. I do think the optical sensor is the way to go now to figure out f it will work on my winder. I have looked at thr archives and got lots of good help. I just do not know how it all works and how to connect it all together. Once again thanks for the help....

[SkinnyWire]

I used an optical switch. Don't remember the exact part number off hand, but basically a photo transisitor like this: OPB365T55. Powered with a wall wart and using a couple of resistors to create the pulse for an LCD digital counter purchased from e-Bay. Counter is battery power ... 10 year battery that lasts at least that. You just need a method of breaking the beam (IR in this case). I use a piece of cardboard that's a bit larger diameter than the mounting plate for the bobbins set basically for 50% duty cycle (square wave). Just takes an edge though to create a count. My goal was to build a winder the fewest moving parts as I could get away with. Good luck.