Cutting Sheet metal

[Dave Kerr]

An indexing system would be very easy to formulate using a stack of identical spacers for each hole spacing. Just pull out a spacer after punching each hole to move the cover over one precise segment.

That makes so much more sense than the two holes/1 pin setup I used drilling out holes for flatwork - either the pin is too small and the fit is sloppy, or the pin fits so snugly that the work piece sticks. Beats creating an aluminum or brass jig for a one-off design, that's for sure.

[Joe Gwinn]

German Silver. Accuracy is a must, and cleanliness also. Basically to do the odd job covers with extra holes, etc. I have been using a x-y and a laser but this has been for forbon and Mylar ??

German Silver handles like brass. If the sizes that standard step drills offer are sufficient, that's going to be the best approach to getting clean round holes.

For occasional holes, the sequence is:

1. Locate where hole center should be, and make a little dimple with a center punch. You may need to make a little aluminum anvil that fits inside the cover so you can make the dimple without crushing the cover.

2. Drill a pilot hole with a 3/32" drill in a drill press. To keep the drill from wandering too much and putting the hole out of place use a screw-machine length (short) bit, not the usual jobbers length (long) bit.

3. Enlarge the hole with a step drill to the needed diameter.

For the drilling steps, you will need some way to hold the cover without damage or danger. Brass is particularly grabby, and may be snatched out of hand if one tries to hold it by hand. A piece of wood with a hole shaped so the cover fits snugly will allow safe hand holding of the cover, and allows one to slide the assembly around on the drill press table as needed.

One can drill brass dry, although some cutting fluids help reduce burrs. Oddly enough, the traditional cutting fluid was whole milk. One can also use metalworking oil emulsions, many of which are designed for nonferrous metals. I use Rustlick WS-5050, but there are many others.

I would practice on some brass covers before trying german silver, because the first one is likely to be botched.

[RedHouse]

This is a very interesting thread....thanks for sharing your info Redhouse...it is very enlightening.

BTW, how is your ingenious little traverse mechanism working out on your winder?.....that is so cool..

Thanks Kevin, I've been wanting to share here but often it seems that much I do flies in the face of the accepted norms so I mostly keep my opinions and stuff to myself, but it's nice to share when I do have something that might actually be useful to others.

Anyway to answer your question, the little traverse thing'y works well, I like the "at rest" feature (the spring that brings it back to one side if I let go the handle/arm) and the end-o-the-safety-pin loop thing'y works like a charm, so very easy to load the wire through and has very tight control while traversing. I'm experimenting right now with the distance it is placed from the guide-bars but it seems it's fine where I initially placed it.

I have noticed that I didn't think-out the placement of the speed controler very well. I didn't like using the foot control as the Lollar book suggested, seems my ankle felt funny/stiff having to hold it still, in just the right position, for so long so I changed it to the knob on the front thing with the lamp dimmer module.

Anyway my winding style is that I like to hold the tension with my left hand and use my right to control the traverse arm, but when first starting a wind, or slowing down to check, or finish, a wind I have to let go of the traverse lever and reach across overhand to get to the speed control...Doh!
(yes, I have tried the Lollar-felt-pad-thingy and much prefer using my hands to control the tension)

I am going to place a 3.5mm jack on the unit which I can use to plug-in a remote pot and build a new base for the traverse attachment that will hold a pot right under/next to the lever so I can traverse AND control the speed with my right hand while holding/tensioning the wire with my left.

I have also added a white painted curved panel that sits directly behind the bobbin area to make it easier to see the wire when winding, but that just may go away if I build the following addition to the winder:

Next Feature:
As I passed by a mechanic the other day, I noticed he was setting the timing on a car's engine using one of those strobe-gun timing lights which makes the timing mark on the crank shaft pulley appear to stand still, it occured to me that this would be a really cool feature to have on a pickup winder, freeze the motion every revolution making it way easier to see exactly where you are winding the wire at that moment in time.

As I walked away I started thinking that since I already have a trigger signal (driving the CUB4) it should be real easy to add another fairly simple circuit, maybe a 555 timer and transistor, to drive one of those high-brightness LED's.

The trigger signal could be used to "strobe" the LED pointed at the area mormally viewed with the eyes while winding, it (should) make things easier to see in normal lighting conditions.
(I am kinda old and a reading glasses wearer for up-close stuff and it's kind of hard for me to see that dang skinny little wire as it winds into a bobbin at full speed sometimes)

Now with summer upon us I don't have much free time but I am going to try and get this worked out as soon as possible to see if it's helpful, I'll post results when available.

[Dave Kerr]

Try putting a white background up there behind the coil, and direct a fairly bright light from over your shoulder onto your work - if you get the angle correct, the wire will show up pretty easily. We don't want you going into an epileptic fit from a strobe.

[RedHouse]

Try putting a white background up there behind the coil, and direct a fairly bright light from over your shoulder onto your work - if you get the angle correct, the wire will show up pretty easily. We don't want you going into an epileptic fit from a strobe.

Uh yeah, that's what I meant when I wrote:

I have also added a white painted curved panel that sits directly behind the bobbin area to make it easier to see

[David King]

I actually prefer having the light behind the winder and bouncing the light off the wire towards my eye. That way I can watch the wire lay down precisely. I also use a dark background so the glint off the wire stands out. Lastly it's handy to have some horizontal reference lines (white string) so I can judge where the wire is piling up on the coil. This is particularly useful when you need to pack on as much 42 heavy as you can on a small bobbin.

I have foot pedal speed controls on several of my machines, it's way handier than reaching for the switch or dial. Just rebuild the foot pedal so that it has a rocker (see-saw) instead of just a spring. That's much easier to control and less tiring to use since you can put some weight onto it.

T-boy, Can you move this traverse discussion up to the coilwinders section where it belongs so I can find it again later?

[Dave Kerr]

Uh yeah, but the more pertinent part of my post was how the light is directed - you want a drop light or similar that's not shining in your eyes but will reflect off the wire.

[RedHouse]

Uh yeah, but the more pertinent part of my post was how the light is directed - you want a drop light or similar that's not shining in your eyes but will reflect off the wire.

Uh yeah, I don't have a light shinning in my eyes so it seems a solution to an issue I don't have, but as for me, I really don't want a drop light or similar near my bench over my shoulder behind me, you see my bench has use as more than the single purpose of winding, I use this bench for building amps and effects also.

The LED strobing I'm suggesting is not the kind that would induce an epileptic fit, maybe you were trying to be funny there, dunno, but thanks for your suggestion anyway Dave.

[Dave Kerr]

My attempts at humor are often unfunny, more often misunderstood, and even more frequently both - the seizure remark apparently fits the last category.

Someone else here talked about going the strobe route a while back and ended up with something more along the lines of what Dave King and I described, but of course ymmv. I use a little yard sale flex neck lamp that clamps to my bench, it's a 30 second hookup and gets put away when not used.

From the looks of your winder you certainly have the ability to MacGyver something out of your spare parts box in short time. I didn't mean to say it was a dumb idea, just that I thought it a solution in need of a problem. The cool gadget factor is certainly a good enough reason to go for it, though, that I can't argue with.

[RedHouse]

Ahh yes, I see what you mean, I just did a forum search and found the thread you just referenced, I see one from Joe Gwinn about a year ago, hmmm, like minds I guess.

http://music-electronics-forum.com/s...78&postcount=6

My idea was to use an LED rather than xenon flash strobe light, not sure if an LED really could produce enough light to incite an epileptic siezure, perhaps if one was looking directly at it instead of using it for a illumination lamp like 2 inches from the bobbin.

So hey Joe, did you get your's working? and did you experience any epileptic issues? is there anything you might share on your endeavor?

{Edit}

Oops I see that down the thread a ways, DoctorX mentioned sub'ing an LED ...and I thought I had a great idea there, sheesh!, ok I'll be over here if anybody needs me.

http://music-electronics-forum.com/s...4&postcount=14

{Edit-2}

BTW, that was a very interesting thread, thanks for the heads-up. Maybe my time would be better spent on other thing's, the white background thing'y I've got in place currently does work really well, I could save my McJyver pocket knife for whittling up a nuclear fusion based winder or something.

[David King]

The flashing and rapid movement effects on people is still a concern even if they aren't prone to seizures. Kid's animated TV in Japan was causing all kinds of distress in random adults and children. That said I doubt if an led reflecting off a tiny wire would trigger anything.

The flashing might be instructive but you can see the wire just fine even if it isn't flashing so unless you're trying resolve an unknown issue in your coils it doesn't seem necessary

[Joe Gwinn]

I have noticed that I didn't think-out the placement of the speed controler very well. I didn't like using the foot control as the Lollar book suggested, seems my ankle felt funny/stiff having to hold it still, in just the right position, for so long so I changed it to the knob on the front thing with the lamp dimmer module.

The problem is that the spring in the pedal is too weak. People are very good at generating a specified force, but not so good at maintaining a position.

As I passed by a mechanic the other day, I noticed he was setting the timing on a car's engine using one of those strobe-gun timing lights which makes the timing mark on the crank shaft pulley appear to stand still, it occurred to me that this would be a really cool feature to have on a pickup winder, freeze the motion every revolution making it way easier to see exactly where you are winding the wire at that moment in time.

As I walked away I started thinking that since I already have a trigger signal (driving the CUB4) it should be real easy to add another fairly simple circuit, maybe a 555 timer and transistor, to drive one of those high-brightness LED's.

The trigger signal could be used to "strobe" the LED pointed at the area normally viewed with the eyes while winding, it (should) make things easier to see in normal lighting conditions.

The general idea does work, but a LED is far too weak to work. You need a xenon strobe built to handle up to 40 flashes per second peak, half that continuously.

A winder running at 1200 rpm makes 20 rotations per second, and someone may go faster. Thus, 40 flashes per second.

To stop motion and yield a clear unblurred view, the flash must be short enough that the fastest object moves less than the resolution of the eye, which is one minute of arc in the young. Assume a young luthier with eyes 18' from the bobbin, which is 3.5" long. At 1200 rpm, the outer parts of the bobbin are moving at 110 inches per second. One minute of arc at 18" is 0.005", and it will take 47.6 microseconds to move that far at 20 rps.

If the flash is that short, it must be very bright or you won't be able to see anything. A 50 microsecond flash at 20 Hz must be 1,000 times brighter than the steady illumination of the same apparent brightness. I don't know that suitable LEDs exist.