Winders Lathe vs Bench grinder/polisher

[buddha0709]

What would be the benefit in using a lathe over a bench grinder/polisher with speed control?
I would think you could save a bit of money this way, and maybe even add a face plate to the grinder to resemble the lathe face plate as well..

[tommyd73069]

My very first post here, hope it's helpful

I found a small jewlers bench grinder for mine. Run out is nearly zero and it works great. Smooth and easy. Sewing machine motor with foot pedal and a battery powered digital counter was all it took.













8268 winds of 42AWG



In action:

On a cigar box guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SAgasEFJ_8

[tommyd73069]

The digital counter was the score of the century. Battery powered, so no wiring, runs accurately at 1200 rpm. $13.00, shipped

Here's where I found it: LCD Punch Counter Digital 5 Including Proximity Switch Strong Magnetic K12 | eBay

[Wittgenstein]

The digital counter was the score of the century. Battery powered, so no wiring, runs accurately at 1200 rpm. $13.00, shipped

Here's where I found it: LCD Punch Counter Digital 5 Including Proximity Switch Strong Magnetic K12 | eBay

I was thinking about picking one of these up, but then I noticed: Counting speed: 20 times / sec . Do you find that to be true or can it handle more than it says? I will be building a winder from scratch soon using an old sewing machine motor and this looks like it would fit the bill.

[buddha0709]

I was thinking about picking one of these up, but then I noticed: Counting speed: 20 times / sec . Do you find that to be true or can it handle more than it says? I will be building a winder from scratch soon using an old sewing machine motor and this looks like it would fit the bill.

That would 1200/minute. That would b fine for me.
U could always upgrade the switch later.

[tommyd73069]

I was thinking about picking one of these up, but then I noticed: Counting speed: 20 times / sec . Do you find that to be true or can it handle more than it says? I will be building a winder from scratch soon using an old sewing machine motor and this looks like it would fit the bill.

As the wise Buddha noted 20/sec is 1200 RPM. That's plenty fast to wind with. 9000 winds in under 8 minutes. That's faster than I wind. I'm closer to 800-900 and it goes quick. I can't watch the shape of the coil at anything faster. My brain gets overloaded. Here are the specs for the Schatten B-model winder.

Specifications:
Maximum speed (no load): 1250 rpm
Average winding speed: up to 900 rpm
Motor: 9v dc brushed motor, fractional hp
Power supply (not furnished with machine): 9 volt 500 milliamp, tip positive.

I got accurate counts to about 1280 rpm with the supplied magnet. I got it to 1400 with a rectangular neo. It's twice as much area presented to the sensor. Eventually, it starts to skip, so I'd say 1200 is going to be the fastest, most accurate pulse rate it can handle on a 9000 revolution wind. If you need to go faster, you are in a bigger hurry than me.

I started with the whole sewing machine and was going to wind off of the hand wheel, where the belt attaches. The more I looked at it, the more I realized, All I needed was the motor and foot pedal. The jewelers arbor made it super simple. There was so much wasted energy and motion in the sewing machine. It was noisy and distracting. I didn't want to waste my time adapting it to my purpose, when the same amount of effort, or less, yielded what I have. My other limitation with using the sewing machine, was it only turns one direction, CCW winding with the bobbin bottom against the mount, or CW with the top against the mount. I didn't like trying to make a mount that would hold both tops and bottoms. That's eyelets and magnets that will need slots or holes to sit in, so the bobbin spins square to the mount. With mine, I can wind off both sides of the spindle. Swapping mounts and the sensor is 2 set screws and a phillips screw that holds the sensor bracket. Reconfiguring takes only a few short minutes. Actually takes me longer to set the traverse than swap sides.

Edit: After re-reading this I had a thought to myself. Self, $15, is not a lot of money, so I ordered another one, just for the sensor. I'll mount it on the other side. The counter won't care which sensor sees it, and as long as it only sees one target from one sensor; one count. Now it will just be swapping sides with the mount and wheel. I already have those t-handles out, no screw driver needed. Quick and easy. I need to add a t-handle holder in my final design. This is more mock up than finished pickup winder. I evolves a little more every day.

"nothing lasts, nothing is finished, nothing is perfect"

[buddha0709]

and back goes my bench polisher i was gonna use for this purpose. Turns out it is an induction motor and the router speed control doesn't work with it so I can't bring down the rpms at all. ... back to the drawing board, maybe i will just go with a lathe...

[tommyd73069]

and back goes my bench polisher i was gonna use for this purpose. Turns out it is an induction motor and the router speed control doesn't work with it so I can't bring down the rpms at all. ... back to the drawing board, maybe i will just go with a lathe...

Go find an old sewing machine ($15-20) and rob the stuff, like I did. You can make your own arbor from a couple of pillow blocks ($20) and some 3/8 steel rod ($2).







Check out ebay for pulleys, about $4. A handful of 3/8 collars and a little thought, you'll have a smooth running arbor in about an hour. Hook up the sewing machine motor and step on the gas.

Most of this is stuff you can find at a real hardware store, not Lowes or Home Depot, but a real one. It's a really simple setup that is easy to control and get spinning with. You can grow into a CNC machine from their. I'd say wind a few with a simple machine and see how you like the results. You're going to end up building several winders, just like you're gonna build several guitars. With both, each will be better, and you can rob parts off the old ones to build new ones. You just need to get past the planning phase and onto the doing it phase. It falls in place as you go. You could have a winder up and running by the end of the day, if you had the sewing machine in hand, even on a Sunday. The rest is waiting at the hardware store.

That's been my experience and I'm having a ball trying stuff with mine. I've wound a couple of cigar box guitar pickups that I think are super cool.

[buddha0709]

alright, I exchanged my bench grinder and router speed control tonight at harbor freight for a lathe. I used a 25% off coupon too to bring it down to $100.
I've got my counter, an idea for tensioning, a nice smooth machined bar from a printer for my guide..
So, I just need to put it all together...

I wish there was a way to slow down the lathe a little bit though, 750 is still a bit fast for me, but i'm sure i'll adjust over time. But in the beginning, i'd rather go a bit slower.

[ReWind]

If you got the 8X12 wood lathe, there seems to really no way to further reduce the speed of the AC brush motor itself without generating a lower frequency of AC. Got a massive PA amp and a sine wave oscillator? The limitation isn't in the speed controller, it's the AC motor. If you just reduce the voltage/current beyond much lower than the built-in speed controller of that lathe (even on another system) it just starts vibrating and stops turning. You'd likely have to go to a DC motor. There is a trim pot in that speed controller that tweaks the start up ramp, but it's not much of an improvement. You could look into changing the gear ratio of the belt drive, but if I remember right, there isn't much additional space in the housing.


If you have one of the mini-lathes (metal lathe), then you have options for gearing it down beyond the stock gear set by cutting your own pinion gears or sourcing some aftermarket ones.

[David King]

Pop the drive pulley off the motor shaft and let the belt ride right on the shaft. If there's a way to move the motor out to tension the belt or use a shorter belt, even a big "O" ring or a rubber band will work OK. You can order the belts in 1 cm increments.