Forum's Ugliest Winder. . . Almost complete

[kayakerca]

Well, after handing out for a year and some, my winder is ALMOST ready for business. Almost. And as I look at it, I can see that it must be the biggest, ugliest, homemade winder ever to grace this forum. It is butt ugly!

I still have to add on a tensioner (felt pads) and do the alignment of the traverser. The basic unit was ready to wind on a hand traverse basis a year ago. But, being retired and a little anal, I just can't seem to leave well enough alone. So, I started in on the Jason Lollar book again (thanks by the way) and set out after a traverser addon. Experienced a lot of failure in the past year, but now, I can control the winder speed and the traverser speed and hand traverse as well. Big thanks to Terry for all his input. One of the things I did learn is that reed switches can handle any speed you throw at them in this environment. I have tested both the tachometer and the wind counter against a hand held laser tachometer and they are within a couple of percentage point of being identical.

I can almost taste that first wind (there will be wire all over the place I'm sure).

[ReWind]

I hate to break your heart, but that's not the ugliest winder. Looks very flexible to me, actually.

Nice job. Let's hear the results!

[copperheadroads]

I'm sure I got something here that's nastier than that .No cameras allowed in my shop ...

[jack briggs]

I hate to break your heart, but that's not the ugliest winder. Looks very flexible to me, actually.

Nice job. Let's hear the results!

Have to agree - just wait until I get mine done!


Cheers,

[copperheadroads]

Ugly winders produce some of the sweetest sounding pickups

[David King]

What a great looking winder, I love it. What's the source of the wire-guide needle?
I see two knobs on the traverser side does one of them set the winder speed?
I really like the simplicity of the traverse excursion adjustment. Undoubtedly you will be playing with cardioid cams in no time.
Thanks for sharing.

[kayakerca]

What a great looking winder, I love it. What's the source of the wire-guide needle?

I bought the wire guide from a company called COSMOS.

COSMOS - specialists in Diamond Polished ceramic wire guides

The other place I found was the link below, but you needed a minimum order:

Coil Winding Machine Ruby Nozzle - China Ruby Nozzle,Wire Guide Nozzle

I see two knobs on the traverser side does one of them set the winder speed?

The knob on the left controls the speed of the traverser and the knob on the right, the speed of the winder. The dp/dt switch changes the tachometer reading between the traverser and the winder. The traverser rpm tops out at ~ 1,800 (on a 250:1 gear down ratio) and the winder tops out at ~1,450 rpm with the pulley that I am currently using. I ran that first pickup at Winder @ 800 rpm; Traverser @ 1,000 rpm. Based on my playing with the speeds before winding, I'd say you could run either as low as 400 rpm reliably, which would cover pretty much any tpl you would want.

The little black box up front has 2 on/off switches, one for the traverser and the other for the winder.

I really like the simplicity of the traverse excursion adjustment. Undoubtedly you will be playing with cardioid cams in no time.
Thanks for sharing.

Just finished winding the first pickup and OH YES, I will start working on a heart shaped cam this coming week! As you can see, that first pickup has a real nice barbell shape! That said, the wind went perfectly otherwise. 8,100 turns at ~ 100 tpl ending with 6.14K ohms resistance (which seems about right from all the data I've accumulated).

The left side looks way off in the photo, but it is actually the same barbell shape as the right.

[kayakerca]

Well, evlolution No. 2 of the heart shaped traverser cam on my second wind.

Strat Neck:
- 8,000 turns
- 6.13K ohm
- 100 tpl (+/-)

Definitely a huge improvement over the round cam. Round Cam pickup wind in the background and the heart shaped cam wind in the foreground. This one is a scaled up and slimmed down version of the version from the Jason Lollar Winder book. I opted to work with a 2 1/4" long version rather than the ~ .8" long version from the book as it just fit my setup better. The "Quick Return" element needs to be softened a fair bit at both ends of the traverser travel. This cam construction is tricky. So back to the sander I go!

[Chris Turner]

So, with this kind of setup, how do you control the traverse travel distance? Different sized cams?

[kayakerca]

So, with this kind of setup, how do you control the traverse travel distance? Different sized cams?

Hi Chris. I milled 2 slots in the cam (see middle of 3 pictures from the original post) that allows the cam to slide left or right to generate the required amount offset from centre that creates the desired traverse distance. I use a DTI placed against the end of the traverser push rod during the setup to measure the cam travel distance. My cam is about 2 1/4" long.

[Eastbville]

kayakerca, Thanks for posting the pickup winder and the resulting pickup winds. Great construction. Great cam design information. I built a Lollar-style winder, guiding by hand and want to add a counter. I read that you have reed switches. Are any additional circuit boards or other items needed for the counter to work correctly? Thanks

[kayakerca]

kayakerca, Thanks for posting the pickup winder and the resulting pickup winds. Great construction. Great cam design information. I built a Lollar-style winder, guiding by hand and want to add a counter. I read that you have reed switches. Are any additional circuit boards or other items needed for the counter to work correctly? Thanks

No other electronics, just a reed switch and the "dry contact" counter (counter with an internal battery requiring no other power). The counter is not cheap, but it works great and is extremely easy to set up even for a non techie guy such as myself. Here is the next generation of the counter I used to count winds.

http://www.redingtoncounters.com/pro...t$0@83;Product

[jason lollar]

nice job- thats actually pretty clean. Looks like the second cam is working for you but you might need a slightly wider traverse- that could explain the loose wires at the bottom. Other than that you cut out the cam very close to what it needs to be. Save your round cam- it works pretty good for P-90s or anything 1/4" tall or shorter.

[Eastbville]

kayakerca, thank you for the link, I'll get one. The reed switch is like what the security systems use, isn't it? I'll post a pic of my winder when I finish the winding counter assembly.

[kayakerca]

kayakerca, thank you for the link, I'll get one. The reed switch is like what the security systems use, isn't it? I'll post a pic of my winder when I finish the winding counter assembly.

The security system reed switches may not work as well as the vacuum blub type that are available online or through electronics shops. I just ordered mine on ebay, (not that I am recommending these, but) something along the lines of these .

50pcs Reed Switch Glass N/O Low Voltage Current MKA14103 | eBay

Others in the forum may know if the security type reed switches are fast enough to reliably work at +/- 1,000 rpm.

Looking forward to seeing your winder.