$50 Hobby-Lathe Coil-Winder

[tbryanh]

The Milwaukee Magnum 0299-20 drill has a Brush Card Assembly inside the drill.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/us/en/partpdfs.nsf/PDFView/9F06ECF9BD51261E86256BD500400EB4/$file/54-06-0125.pdf

[NewYorkDave]

...a lathe that uses a 1/2" drive electric drill.

Hey, thanks for the link. I need a simple winder to make inductors for equalizers and filters, and I don't have the patience, mechanical skill or (frankly) the desire to attempt anything much more complex than the ol' "hand drill clamped in a vise." But this looks nearly perfect for my needs; just add a drill, a counter, some sort of bobbin holder and you're good to go. If the 24" bed turns out to be too long and cumbersome--and it probably will unless you're into winding giant solenoids or, umm, using the thing as a lathe--you can take a hacksaw to it.

I'm new here. Hello, everybody.

[tbryanh]

I haven't like the results of the lathe/drill setup so far.

I used an external speed contol device that was made for a router. It really didn't control the speed well. The speed varied alot depending on how much tension was on the wire being fed.
I used a microswitch and a modified calculator as a counting device, but the microswitch skipped counts, and you couldn't read the calcultator until you stopped the drill.

I am not sure if I need the tourque of a drill. It has plenty though if you need it.


I plan to try out a sewing machine instead. It has a foot pedal speed control already, and you just mount the coil form to the flywheel. A counter is still an issue.

Check out this link: Sewing Machine Coil Winder?
http://music-electronics-forum.com/s...sewing+machine

Anyway, I am not winding any coils now, but I plan to in the future, so I am still interested in the subject.

[NewYorkDave]

Does the drill mount look like it could be made to accomodate a manually-cranked drill? (I can't really tell from the photo). That would give you full control over speed and torque. Most hand drills have a gear ratio on the order of 3.5 or 4 to 1, so your wrist shouldn't get too tired unless you're winding something with a bazillion turns.

Are you using a debouncing circuit between your tally switch and the counter? If you want to try a mechanical counter, here's an inexpensive one that looks like it could be adapted to many coil winder applications:

http://www.wttool.com/product-exec/p...tation_Counter

I like the fact that it has both CW and CCW driveshafts--and, of course, the all-important reset!

Part of the appeal of the hobby lathe to me is the conical tailstock spindle, which would be perfect for holding round bobbins against a flat plate chucked into the drill. (I'm planning on winding pot-core inductors, mostly). This isn't likely something you'd use for guitar pickup bobbins, though.

[tbryanh]

The drill mount wouldn't work with the Milwaukee drill that I already had. The drill mount in the lathe is stout, but it is cast aluminum, so I was afraid to mess with it too much.

I wound up buying their drill that the lathe was based on. Of course I like the Milwaukee drill better.

Seeing that I wind very few coils, a hand drill might be the way to go. Making a hand drill fit is an issue though. It might be there is one out there that will fit. Maybe the handle of the hand drill can be put in the mount instead of the area by the chuck, but that sounds a little unstable.

I would be interested in fitting a hand drill in there.

I don't think debouncing the mechanical switch I used would help. If the drill turned slow, it worked, but once you get up to a speed you like, it floats and does not count at all.

I like the looks of that mechanical counter.
http://www.wttool.com/product-exec/p...tation_Counter
It looks like it would work. The price sure is right.

The conical tailstock spindle does look like it would work for holding round bobbins against a flat plate chucked into the drill. I never though of that.

My concept was to put a 3/8" hardware bolt into the chuck and wind wire on the bolt.

I'm not sure what a pot-core inductor is?

[SonnyW]

Can a variac be used to control the speed of the motor?

Will this be safe for the motor?

I have a nice Milwaukie drill, so I do not want to damage it.

I definitely would advise against using a variac to control a drill motor. I've got a big old General Radio one that I thought was big enough to do that, and I tried once to use it with a 1/2 black and decker drill to re-spool some 22awg wire that I had. It worked for about a minute or so but the variac got hot enough to start making a smell and I had to stop to keep from burning it up. Save your variac for your amp.

[David Schwab]

You can probably use a router speed control to control a drill motor.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=43060