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Lego Pickup Winder


GuitarGuy

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Wow, that thing's moving fast.. May give that a try..

Where do you get your pickup parts from?

Unfortunately, my Lego dudes date back to before they actually had a character so I'm going to have to hire the space-man and the knight.. Can't hire the pirate guy, though, he's got a partial sight impairment which may prove hazardous in this line of work.. Plus he's only got one hand and a hook..

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I would have never thought that LEGOs could spin around that fast! Did you lube the moving parts or anything?

No lube, legos tend to fit with loose tolerances so its not really necessary. It may prevent future wear tho.

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Haha!! I decided to build off Guitar Guy's ideas and I came up with this..

legowinder.jpg

As you can see, it's pretty similar to his.. The main differences are that the output spins at 9 times the input speed (easier hand winding? Can't find my motor..) and, of course, I'm using a different counter..

It's the counter I'm kinda proud of, actually.. It's using the "1+1+1+....on a calculator" method.. I discovered, though, that the keys require quite a bit of force so I opened it up and got the arm thingy (see video) to directly contact the circuit board.. Better seen in the video below.. The tyres are there to add a little weight..

Video.. (Right click then "Save as..") Don't mind the address.. Drummer Girl Porn is my band's name..

Oh, and I got the hirelings to wear uniforms.. :D

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Haha!! I decided to build off Guitar Guy's ideas and I came up with this..

legowinder.jpg

As you can see, it's pretty similar to his.. The main differences are that the output spins at 9 times the input speed (easier hand winding? Can't find my motor..) and, of course, I'm using a different counter..

It's the counter I'm kinda proud of, actually.. It's using the "1+1+1+....on a calculator" method.. I discovered, though, that the keys require quite a bit of force so I opened it up and got the arm thingy (see video) to directly contact the circuit board.. Better seen in the video below.. The tyres are there to add a little weight..

Video.. (Right click then "Save as..") Don't mind the address.. Drummer Girl Porn is my band's name..

Oh, and I got the hirelings to wear uniforms.. :D

And with the faster wind speed, you had to hire 2 guys to run it. :D

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Bugger, I can't seem to download the video.  It wants to transmit "winder.htm", and there's naught I can do about it.

Greg

Right click, Save Target As..? Works on this end... :D

Not on this end, unfortunately. The dialog box comes up, and wants to save it as, "winder.htm". So I say, "ah screw it, I'll manually change the suffix after it's downloaded" but only 198B get transmitted.

Greg

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cool, hows it wind at 9:1? Mine being 6:1 is really fast... so that must be cruzin!

As sad as this may sound, I haven't fully tested it out yet.. I'm still trying to find a place to find the wire for the windings but I can't seem to get it here.. Probably not looking in the right places.. Any place online I could get it?

Not on this end, unfortunately. The dialog box comes up, and wants to save it as, "winder.htm". So I say, "ah screw it, I'll manually change the suffix after it's downloaded" but only 198B get transmitted.

Greg

Hmm.. Can't be of much help, then, I'm afraid.. I'm not too sharp when it comes to things like that.. :D

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I just know I'm going to have problems with the Vid....what I'd like to know is how you got your worm gear transversing thing to reverse once it gets to the bobbin edge...how does it know it's at the bobbin edge...basically, how does it work...does it have a separate motor? that kind of thing!

BTW: I like the uniforms...that really adds a professional touch...they really look like they know what they're up to. I wouldn't discount the pirate...Leo Fender only had one good eye and couldn't play guitar and he did OK.

Also: This is a terrific thread...wish there were more like it rather than some of the slam fests I've seen lately...strangely that stuff doesn't happen too much over here in the electronics section...better class of guys perhaps

I feel really inadequate about my more professional looking winder...lots of LED's and such but none of the humour...plus, I got to do everything myself...D'oh!

psw

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As sad as this may sound, I haven't fully tested it out yet.. I'm still trying to find a place to find the wire for the windings but I can't seem to get it here.. Probably not looking in the right places.. Any place online I could get it?

I found a few places in the US:

StewMac

WireTronic

In the UK:

Comax

In Malaysia:

Leader GoldStar

Hope this helps,

~David

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As sad as this may sound, I haven't fully tested it out yet.. I'm still trying to find a place to find the wire for the windings but I can't seem to get it here.. Probably not looking in the right places.. Any place online I could get it?

I found a few places in the US:

StewMac

WireTronic

In the UK:

Comax

In Malaysia:

Leader GoldStar

Hope this helps,

~David

Also EBAY!!! you can usally find it for $20 a roll

Oh, and to test it just use thread. It's a lot stronger and is much much more forgiving. Once everything runs smooth then try the wire.

Edited by GuitarGuy
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I just know I'm going to have problems with the Vid....what I'd like to know is how you got your worm gear transversing thing to reverse once it gets to the bobbin edge...how does it know it's at the bobbin edge...basically, how does it work...does it have a separate motor? that kind of thing!

BTW: I like the uniforms...that really adds a professional touch...they really look like they know what they're up to. I wouldn't discount the pirate...Leo Fender only had one good eye and couldn't play guitar and he did OK.

Also: This is a terrific thread...wish there were more like it rather than some of the slam fests I've seen lately...strangely that stuff doesn't happen too much over here in the electronics section...better class of guys perhaps

I feel really inadequate about my more professional looking winder...lots of LED's and such but none of the humour...plus, I got to do everything myself...D'oh!

psw

Ok, I modded it a little bit but only to exclude the worm gear.. It was snagging up more than I was happy with.. You can still see the gear in the picture below, but it's not in use.. I was just too lazy to get it out..

winder2.jpg

Anyway, the picture should give you an idea of how it works.. No second motor or anything.. It's basically like those old steam power trains, just a lot more straight forward.. The traversing arm basically makes a little circle.. If you look at GuitarGuy's winder, he's added another guide to make sure (if I'm not wrong) the wire stays within the limits of the bobbin..

Thanks all for the supply links, by the way!! One step closer to custom pickups..

And I did not know that Leo Fender couldn't play the guitar.. :D Are you serious?!

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I was cruzing ebay and I found a mindspring set for aroun $150. That stuff is so cool. YOu can program the lego to do certain functions. It would be really neat to speed up and slow down the travarse. In therory I think you could program the rotations as well. So it would just stop when its done. No counter needed. Too Cool!

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And I did not know that Leo Fender couldn't play the guitar..  :D Are you serious?!

Yes...Leo lost his right eye due to a tumour (that turned out to be preventable) in childhood...he was always sensitive about it, especially in photos. And, no he didn't play guitar...a little sax in school...but was far more interested in Radio and electronics. He did actively cultivate some pretty savvy customers and later, a lot of his employees were players. He did have a strong idea of what his guitars should sound like even if he wasn't a player himself!

I was cruzing ebay and I found a mindspring set for aroun $150.

I think you'll soon discover the limits of Lego. I built my winder for less than that and I think you'll find wear and wobble setting in before long. It's a great idea for getting designs and doing a few winds occasionally...but...Machanno anyone?

My camera battery's flat at the moment so I can't take photo's....

My winder is powered by a old Sewing machine motor and drive belt. Inside I bought a cheap small bench grinder. I took off all the guards and made spindle wheels with a whole saw from cheap kitchen plastic chopping boards and faced with perspex for doublesided tape pickup attachment. As there is a wheel at each end you can use the other side to do reverse winds...or theoretically both bobbins of a humbucker together.

All this fits into a box with various electronic bits to control the speed, count, etc.

The Transversing mechanism runs from above and is more complicated....and incomplete...and not necessary if you're feeding by hand.

Anyway...I suppose you could always hire more lego guys to effect maintenance. Just think, if Leo had worn a patch instead of a glass eye...the pirate would have been the first choice!!!

pete

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I understand the wear issues but lego is easy to come buy. So part replacement should be easy for the mantinence crew to take care of. I find the modular aspect very appealing. This is by no means a production machine. I'll be lucky if I make 3 or 4 guitars this year.

Google the mindspring stuff sometime. It is really interesting stuff (fully programable). Mechano would be better but they dont sell it here. The tutorial to make this is in the camera right now. I'll see what I can get done when I get home from work.

When I was doing the tut pictures I inspected the gears and spindles and the wear was already present. It's not really destructive wear but you can see the polishing effect the rubbing is making. On reassembly I added graphite powder on all the pivot points hopefully this will slow any wear. But in the end its lego so you can't expect it to be indestructable.

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