Check out my winder

[tonedeciple]

It's been a while since I've posted here as I've been really busy making pups and building guitars. Today I added an auto traversing mechanism a la Lollar to my winder. I haven't had a chance to put it to the test yet (tomorrow for sure). The winder itself allows me to put about 5,000 turns on a bobbin in about 8-10 minutes. I did one in 5 minutes, but that's getting scary fast.

I have a question however. I was thinking of modifying the cam by adding shallow notches around the edge. My idea is to cause the wire to move slightly back and forth as it traverses. Has anyone ever tried this before?

[Bruce Johnson]

Chris;
I think you need to move the whole auto-traverse mechanism up right against the box. You want the feeder wheel to be as close to the bobbin as you can get it. As far back as you have it, the traverse mechanism isn't going to have much control at all. The wire is just going to go wherever it wants to on the bobbin. I set up my feeder wheel so it just clears the flanges of the bobbin.

You can do whatever you want with the cam shape. Adding a wavy surface to the cam will make the feeder do a zig-zag as it goes across the width of the bobbin. In practice, you'll find that, even with a smooth cam, the wire will usually do a small back and forth motion as it traverses. You have to have a really tight machine and mechanism to lay down perfect flat layers.

Be aware that the cam that you have on there isn't going to give you a linear layer, because it's just a simple eccentric. By its geometry, it will normally build up too much wire at the flanges and not enough in the center. It's a reasonable starting point, but you'll probably end up experimenting with different cam profiles and making one more heart-shaped. That will get you closer to a true linear layer.

[tonedeciple]

Bruce,
Thanks for the feedback! I tested the winder on a couple of humbucker bobbins and was encouraged by the results until the traverse motor failed. What I did learn before the failure was that the wire tension had to be adjusted until wire squealed as it passed between the felt pads. Doing so prevented the wire from winding too loosely. I also learned that the cam did, as you warned, put more wire at the flanges than at the center. I'm on the hunt for another oscillating fan motor and will try out the heart-shaped cam for the next test run.