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I am just starting the building my 1st PC controlled winder.
All of the interfaces are USB and are easily programmed in your favourite language ... like Visual Basic
There will be a few parts to this project.
The first is the motor control and linear actuator control. This controls the main winding task.
The second part will be the servo motor and tension sensors.
Finally I'll build a small Guass meter in as well.
The main controllers and boards are from
PC-Control in the UK
and the sensor boards are from
www.phidgets.com in the US
Phidgets also sell motor controllers but are more expensive than PC-Control. It may be advantageous to be only dealing with one vendors software interface ... but this isn't an issue for me.
I'm using the motor controller and stepper controller as well as the Anolog-to-Digital interface boards from PC-Control ... these boards will run the motor and linear actuator.
(My design is to mount the motor on the actuator to have the motor traversing across the wire so that the tension sensors are not impacted)
My motor has a 500 Count per turn 3 way digital encoder attached. I will use a high speed USB encoder from Phidgets to get the count fed into the software. RPM and totals are easily calculated via software.
So with these I can accurately control the traverse and wind. I can program psuedo-scatter patterns or whatever works and save these for re-use if they turn out nicely.
The tension control system is going to use some 1lb Flexiforce sensors connected to a Flexiforce USB adapter and fed back into the Analog to digital encoder for feedback into the RPM control and servo that will adjust the tension on the wire.
Basically these sensors will be mounted on some nylon dowel that the wire traverses in a
__/*\o/*\__
configuration (sensors on the *s ). As tension is required the servo will move the middle peg (the "o") up and down to increase and decrease the tension through the 3 rods.
It's a plan .. I hope it works
So hopefully I can control the number of winds, the tension, and the scatter-pattern and save these "recipes" for re-use.
The last piece I'll do is after I charge the magnets and run the finished pickup through the analysis/benchmarking software, I will use the magnetic sensor to record the charge strength of the pickup at a constant heigh (eg 5 mm above the pickup) and record this info into the database at the same time.
I'll post picks of the Software and Winder as I go. Hope to be done at the end of the Xmas break.
All of the interfaces are USB and are easily programmed in your favourite language ... like Visual Basic
There will be a few parts to this project.
The first is the motor control and linear actuator control. This controls the main winding task.
The second part will be the servo motor and tension sensors.
Finally I'll build a small Guass meter in as well.
The main controllers and boards are from
PC-Control in the UK
and the sensor boards are from
www.phidgets.com in the US
Phidgets also sell motor controllers but are more expensive than PC-Control. It may be advantageous to be only dealing with one vendors software interface ... but this isn't an issue for me.
I'm using the motor controller and stepper controller as well as the Anolog-to-Digital interface boards from PC-Control ... these boards will run the motor and linear actuator.
(My design is to mount the motor on the actuator to have the motor traversing across the wire so that the tension sensors are not impacted)
My motor has a 500 Count per turn 3 way digital encoder attached. I will use a high speed USB encoder from Phidgets to get the count fed into the software. RPM and totals are easily calculated via software.
So with these I can accurately control the traverse and wind. I can program psuedo-scatter patterns or whatever works and save these for re-use if they turn out nicely.
The tension control system is going to use some 1lb Flexiforce sensors connected to a Flexiforce USB adapter and fed back into the Analog to digital encoder for feedback into the RPM control and servo that will adjust the tension on the wire.
Basically these sensors will be mounted on some nylon dowel that the wire traverses in a
__/*\o/*\__
configuration (sensors on the *s ). As tension is required the servo will move the middle peg (the "o") up and down to increase and decrease the tension through the 3 rods.
It's a plan .. I hope it works
So hopefully I can control the number of winds, the tension, and the scatter-pattern and save these "recipes" for re-use.
The last piece I'll do is after I charge the magnets and run the finished pickup through the analysis/benchmarking software, I will use the magnetic sensor to record the charge strength of the pickup at a constant heigh (eg 5 mm above the pickup) and record this info into the database at the same time.
I'll post picks of the Software and Winder as I go. Hope to be done at the end of the Xmas break.
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