mojotone hand guided tensioner

[James Welsh]

Merry Christmas and Happy new year everyone

Anyone tried this thing? Any thoughts?

Hand Guided Tensioner Tool

[Jason Rodgers]

Don't know how the Mojo tool works, but I just built this yesterday. I'll have a chance to try it out later this week when some new magnet wire arrives in the mail.

[James Welsh]

Nice! That looks like it'll work well

I guess I should say I'm asking more about these tensioners in general, not specifically the mojo one. I haven't been winding very long and just run the wire through my fingers. I'm wondering if there is any real advantage to getting something like this, or just keep using my hands and try to get a consistent feel for the tension that way

[Jason Rodgers]

My answer would be: yes. I've wound a grand total of five coils, and each one got a little tighter as I became more comfortable with the wire. I made this tension tool for the next batch because I know that fatigue became a consistency issue. For this next batch, I'm basically winding two or three of the "same" coils, but just changing other variables- magnets, cores, baseplates. I don't know how much more consistent this tool will make my work, but I'm going to give it a go.

[David King]

For that price you could buy an RC servo and manual joystick actuator and build a real wire guide/tensioner.

[larams]

Pretty neat but I wonder what size the opening on the guide is. It's hard to tell but it looks like there is a lot of slop.

[Jason Rodgers]

Pretty neat but I wonder what size the opening on the guide is. It's hard to tell but it looks like there is a lot of slop.

On the Mojo unit, or mine? I can tell you the outfeed tube on my little jobby is the (clean, empty) end of the ink tube from a ballpoint pen. Yes, there is slop, but I wasn't going for accuracy. After all, it's still hand-winding.

[larams]

On the Mojo unit, or mine? I can tell you the outfeed tube on my little jobby is the (clean, empty) end of the ink tube from a ballpoint pen. Yes, there is slop, but I wasn't going for accuracy. After all, it's still hand-winding.

No sorry. I didn't mean yours. I was watching the mojotone video and looking at their nozzle part. I dunno it seemed not that great for the price IMO.

I like yours and think it's a clever idea.

[the great waldo]

On the Mojo unit, or mine? I can tell you the outfeed tube on my little jobby is the (clean, empty) end of the ink tube from a ballpoint pen. Yes, there is slop, but I wasn't going for accuracy. After all, it's still hand-winding.

Hi Jason

You can always reduce the nozzle ball pen tube size by heat stretching the tube over a candle flame , an old modelmaking trick.

Cheers

Andrew

[Jason Rodgers]

Hi Jason

You can always reduce the nozzle ball pen tube size by heat stretching the tube over a candle flame , an old modelmaking trick.

Cheers

Andrew

Yes, I suppose I could do that, but maybe I'm missing something: for this purpose, how important is the size of the outfeed nozzle? I'm going to be holding the tension tool an inch or two away from the guide bar on my winder. The collars are set to match the bobbin spacing, and the traverse becomes the only manual task. Actually, as part of this attempt at consistency, having the wire under control with the tension tool, I'm going to try keeping my eye on the counter to lay down (roughly) 100 TPL.

[John_H]

I use a tensioner when I hand guide, but it's secured to the bench. I still guide the wire with my fingers, but with the tension under control winding is much easier.

With the tensioner mounted to the bench, it's one less thing to hold.

[Jason Rodgers]

I use a tensioner when I hand guide, but it's secured to the bench. I still guide the wire with my fingers, but with the tension under control winding is much easier.

With the tensioner mounted to the bench, it's one less thing to hold.

An even better idea!

[Jason Rodgers]

Such a good idea, in fact, that I think I'll drawer my funny little tensioning tool and build a tensioner that attaches to a guide arm on my winder.

[Jason Rodgers]

Yep, hand-held tensioning tool: in the drawer. New, mounted tensioner: done.



Thanks, John H!

[James Welsh]

Thanks for all the tips and advice here guys!

Originally I wasn't even sure if I would use a tensioner at all. Thought maybe the best option in the long run was to stick with just my hands and learn to really feel the tension between my fingers. But now I think I will try a similar felt tensioner mounted to the bench and see how that goes