Anybody with experience using a meter-wheel as a turn counter?

[capehead]

Hi guys, I'm in the process of putting together my first coil winder in over 10 years; a dual use winder for both transformers and pickups. For now the plan is to keep things relatively simple but I most certainly need a way of being able to count the number of turns being put onto whatever bobbin I'm winding. I've seen some of the more elegant solutions being used like reed switch actuated digital counters and stuff, but in my numerous journeys in and out of hardware stores with this project, I noticed that meter wheels have counters already built into them. I haven't bought one yet as I was hoping to hear from somebody with first hand experience if they are generally durable enough to withstand being used on a coil winding machine. The thing I'm liking about meter wheels is that the wheel itself could actually be modified into the bobbin holder/retainer in a belt drive system.

[jonson]

I used one from the 80s till the late nineties with no probs apart from the clackety clack row. They are 1 rev per count so I just stuck a spare sewing machine pully on the shaft and another on the faceplate shaft. I found it very accurate but the noise eventually caused me to change to a small counter but still mechanical rather than mess about with optics. It all works so why change.

[Bruce Johnson]

You may be able to modify one of those meter wheels to work, but you will be better off just buying the right kind of mechanical counter by itself. What you want is called a rotary type mechanical counter, 5 digit.

Here's an example of one on Amazon: Clockwise Increase 5 Digits Resettable Rotary Counter - Electrical Timers - Amazon.com

Note: This particular one says it's only rated to go 350 rpm, which is strange. It should have no problem running much faster than that. I suspect that's an ad typo, and it's actually rated for 3500 rpm. Rotary counters, by their design, are made to spin fast and easily.

I bought the one that I use on my winder from McMaster-Carr, plus I found another on ebay for cheap. The main one has been running flawlessly for close to 10 years, at speeds up to 1800 rpm.

You must use a rotary-type counter. The ratcheting click-style ones with the lever arm will be too slow and prone to problems.

The rotary ones are available in either CW or CCW rotation. Many of them will only turn in one direction; they won't count down. So, make sure that you know what you want for the design of your machine.

Mine is driven by a little XL series rubber toothed timing belt, over plastic timing belt pulleys. Simple cheap parts. Positive drive, no risk of slippage and bad numbers.

[John_H]

I bought one of these just to see if they were for real. It's a bargain as a standalone counter, and works fine.P11-5A LCD Digital counter punch magnetic switch reciprocating rotary counter | eBay

[capehead]

Thanks for the replies guys and sorry I didn't back sooner; I've been working non stop on getting this winder to work. Problem #1 was getting the belt drive and pulley mechanism to work without excessive vibration (finally got it working properly after a week of trying numerous configurations) and now I'm working on syncing up a second wheel that I'm planing on using as the bobbin retainer. Anyways I'm weighing my options in regards to a counter; the benefit of using a meter wheel is that I can obtain one instantly in an actual store without having to wait for shipping, the downside is that I will most certainly have to heavily modify it to work with my machine and there is the chance that it may not be able to handle the RPMs. Speaking of though, so far this winder screams! Maxed out this thing at least is cranking at 2000 RPM by my rough guess; it's a good thing I wired the motor on a dimmer switch. One lesson I've learned for future reference is that wood does not make for a good medium to build a winder onto, especially where some degree of tolerance is expected.