Wire spools

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
While I was having some success using #41 gauge on a 3" spool, I am pulling my hair out trying to use #42 gauge that is on a 6" spool. I can get about 50 to 100 turns and the wire breaks. I created a felt tension clamp that can go from nothing to holding the wire until it will not move. I put just enough tension on the wire so it will not unravel and tangle while unwinding from the spool. I have adjusted the clamp from slight tension, to nothing with no difference in results.
I was going to try unwinding it from the end with the spool horizontal, that would dictate the wire being behind me on the counter and I am not sure that would not create more problems.
I was thinking about putting it beside the winder and rigging something to bring it up and back over to the winder. At that point I may be able to see what is going on.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[big_teee]

You may have a bad roll of wire.
When the wire breaks, is always at the same place on the reel.
Is the spool a near full roll, or is nearly empty.
You may want to post some pictures of the wire setup.
I will try to take a picture later, of what I use.
I had a defective roll of wire a year back, and it always broke when the wire got to one end of the spool.
I got it replaced by the wire vender.

[John_H]

Hello,
While I was having some success using #41 gauge on a 3" spool, I am pulling my hair out trying to use #42 gauge that is on a 6" spool. I can get about 50 to 100 turns and the wire breaks. I created a felt tension clamp that can go from nothing to holding the wire until it will not move. I put just enough tension on the wire so it will not unravel and tangle while unwinding from the spool. I have adjusted the clamp from slight tension, to nothing with no difference in results.
I was going to try unwinding it from the end with the spool horizontal, that would dictate the wire being behind me on the counter and I am not sure that would not create more problems.
I was thinking about putting it beside the winder and rigging something to bring it up and back over to the winder. At that point I may be able to see what is going on.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If you're tying to unreel the wire from the spool, that's where your problem is. The wire should come off cleanly from the end. The spool remains stationary. It does not turn as the wire comes off. It simply plays out off of the end.

[J M Fahey]

I don't wind pickups but transformers (thick wire, never such a problem) and voicecoils which are thinner, although thicker than pickup wire, and sometimes wire breaks at random.

I never let spools rotate because of inertia, always use it vertical ... which makes unrolling wire slide all round one spool edge.

I found it's usually a nick or scratch at said spool edge, which catches the wire even for a fleeting moment and causes it to stretch and break.

Check it's nothing like that happening.

Sometimes I'be even had to lightly sand the spool edge with wet wet/dry paper to make it real smooth.

Wire used in pickups is even thinner that what I use, so the slightest imperfection can easily catch and break it.

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
I will take some pictures tomorrow. The spool is stationary on the floor. It is a brand new spool. I think the pulley on the sewing machine motor may be to small. That could cause it to jerk with tension applied, and break the wire. The coil either winds to sloppy, or breaks, there seems to be no in between.
Thanks for the replies, I will work more with it tomorrow.

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
OK here are some photos. I think the angle for the guides was not extreme enough. I have removed some of the blocks holding the guides to increase the angle. I also moved it back a bit. Hopefully that may help put enough tension to keep the coils from being spongy.

[the great waldo]

Hi Spare Ribs

Are you guiding the wire with your hand? Can you post a frontal picture as it's hard to figure out whats going on there.
Cheers

Andrew

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
Yes I am guiding the wire by hand, the transverse system with the cams and all of that is pretty difficult if not impossible to construct. Here is the front of the winder. Hope that helps.

[the great waldo]

Hi SpareRibs

I'd suggest you get rid of the large wooden block (use a couple of pieces of aluminium with holes drilled for the shafts ) holding your end stops and mount the bar with the stops reasonably near to the bobbin say a couple of inches from the bobbin end at the longest point so that you can maybe rest your arm in front of the machine and hang a piece of thin felt 1mm thick about 12 inches long over the leading edge of the base board. The wire comes over the felt at the front edge and the overhanging felt dampens the wire swinging of the bobbin. You may have to push the wire reel a little bit behind the hanging felt. Thats how I do it on a little emco unimat1 lathe that I use for the motor. I hope that helps a bit and don't forget to make sure the wire guide is well polished.

Cheers

Andrew

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
Thanks Andrew, I'll dump the blocks. I used them in the original assembly to get the winder built, now comes the dialing it in. I think if you look at the photos in post 6 on the left side you can see that the guides were almost even with the top of the disc that holds the bobbin. By lowering that I may be able to wind the pickups tighter.

[the great waldo]

Hi Spare ribs

I've attached a photo of my hand rig, which I still use for winding strat/single coils. I must admit to having the luxury of a cncdudez cnc winder as well for the humbuckers

Cheers

Andrew

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
Thank you Andrew for the photos of your winder. I am currently putting a larger pulley on the sewing machine motor on my winder. I have also disassembled the foot control and cleaned the contacts. I think it is running to fast, that may be the reason for the loose windings. It may be causing the breakage to.

[the great waldo]

Hi Spare ribs

My pleasure. The plus side of my winding rig is that the motor is not very powerful and slows down if too much tension is on the wire which in turn makes it quite controlable. Maybe greasing the drive belt on your rig with silicon oil and dropping the tension would give it a little more sensitivity. The problem I often have is is the state of the skin on my finger an thumb which makes a big difference to how the wire feeds through.

Cheers

Andrew

[SpareRibs]

Hi Spare ribs

My pleasure. The plus side of my winding rig is that the motor is not very powerful and slows down if too much tension is on the wire which in turn makes it quite controlable. Maybe greasing the drive belt on your rig with silicon oil and dropping the tension would give it a little more sensitivity. The problem I often have is is the state of the skin on my finger an thumb which makes a big difference to how the wire feeds through.
Cheers
Andrew

Hello,
Haven't given up. I put a larger pulley on the motor of the winder. I think it may provide enough leverage to slow the motor down, thus giving me more awareness and control over the tension. It is all a work in progress as I had to make another bobbin.

[big_teee]

Hang in there, you'll get it.
Do you have a speed control on the motor, or just an off an on?
A good gradual speed control is everything in winding.
If it jerks from slow to fast, that will break lots of wire.
I wound for several years with a Varible speed drill, and it had a real good varible speed control.
Since I switched to the new mojo winder, I can wind 44 full speed without breakage.
It takes lots of practice.
T