Robbinst Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 I wanted to show you guys my pup winder that I made from an old sewing machine and a calculator and provide any info that I can just because I had a hard time finding everything to make mine (I went through about 8 calculators before I got it right ) I made a plate out of plexi that the bobbin rides on and it stays on using double sided tape. Here is the calculator. It has two wires connected across the equals key that are attached to a micro switch. If you hit "1+1" then "=" it will count up by one for each push. The micro switch takes the place of the equals key and is positioned under the sewing machines piston so that every time it rotates, it will press the switch causing the calculator to count one revolution. In this pic you can see the micro switch which is clamped between 2 small pieces of wood and two sets of nuts and bolts. You can also see the bottom of the piston right above the switch This calculator is from staples and is model SPL-240. Most sites/ threads just tell you find a calculator and solder to the "=" key connection points. Well these things are not marked and for the most part the locations don't make sense, at least to me. Like I said, I went through about 8 calculators trying to find the right solder points (I also had a few slips with my exacto knife while trying to free the board from the case and ended up taking out important wires.) So hopefully this will help you out so you can avoid the cost and frustration that I went through. If you get this exact calculator, lightly scratch off the protective material with an exacto knife and solder to the two wires to the connection points I circled in this pic It should work and it will let you avoid cutting the plastic rivets holding the board in place and having to spend time searching. And here is the first bobbin I wound on the machine with 7000 turns My sewing machine at full speed spins about 750rpm which was a little fast for the calculator, so I just press the button down about 3/4 of the way down and cruise at a steady pace. 7000 turns took about 13mins and I stopped every once in a while to check how the bobbin was filling up. Its tough getting used to dealing with such fragile wire but hopefully I'll get the hang of it before go broke paying for the stuff. I mostly just wanted to cover the calculator issues in the post since that was the most frustrating part for me but I would be more then happy to answer any other questions you guys might have. Thanks for looking! -Tyler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juntunen Guitars Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 How much did all of this cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted May 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 I'm going from memory so this is estimated but all the materials are pretty cheap. Sewing machine- $10 from a friend. You can find old ones for really cheap at goodwill or even yard sales Wood base- Free. Scrap 3/4 plywood I had laying around Plexi- free. Used scraps from other projects Nuts and bolts- Free. Once again found these in my shop Micro switch- $3 and change, from radio shack Calculator- $9 from staples. This is where it got a little expensive for me. They were not all 9 bucks and some I even found but I would say I have about $35 in calculators before I got it to work. This is what I'm trying to help others avoid. I think that's everything but if you see something else I neglected let me know. So I have roughly $48 all together into this thing and if you can get the calculator I used and follow the connections you could probably make this for less then $25, which is a hell of a lot better the paying $400 for stewmac's winder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlashJim Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Do not. I repeat do not pay $400.00 for the stew mac winder.... it is not worth $100.00 (I know I have one) Mine has made it 4 years but I know plenty of guys that have had to rebuild them... They are so overpriced and underbuilt. The only concern I have with this unit is the counter not keeping up... aside from that this is an awesome first winder. I am in the process of building my new winder and I cannibalized a 1972 Kenmore for the parts. I am planning an optical sensor and programmable counter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted May 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Yeah the calculator is not as fast as I would like. I think if I go any faster then 550-600rpm it stops counting but it gets the job done though. do you think you could you post a thread like this about the optical sensor and counter when you get it together? Ideally that is the setup I want but I'm not sure how to go about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Another possible issue is the micro switch. If you get an programmable counter it is possible that it is too fast, meaning that it will actually count every contact bouns. If you use a really fast oscilloscope you will see that aevery mechanisal swits actually has up to 5-6 contact bounces and then you need to use something like an optical, hall sensor or other type of proximity switch. I'm using an programmable counter and an inductive sensing proximity switch. I can run up to 10 000 rpm without loosing count. Did I hear "overkill"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted May 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Wow that's crazy.How much did that stuff cost you? Seems like it would be a lot of money. So I just put together my first humbucker and my meter is reading 5.3k, it seems a little low. I have 5500 turns on the screw bobbin and 6500 on the slug bobbin with 42 gauge wire. Does this seem right or did I mess up somehow? This first one is basically an experiment so I can try everything out and get the feel for it. As I was typing this the timer went off so I was able to take it out of the waxing pot and test again and now it reads 5.9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Optical switching is not usually susceptible to false triggers from "bounce". Like Swede said you need a good proximity switch as a cheap magnet based proximity switch (like from an alarm system) is susceptible to "bounce" miss triggers. When I get my optical switch done I will post all of the steps to use it. Don't hold your breathe though as I have a ton of other more pressing projects. I suggest you "carefully" (as in search for and read posts before asking) ask about optical switches over here... Pickup Makers Forum If you find out what you need report back here as we never seem to share enough about the tools we build... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Wow that's crazy.How much did that stuff cost you? Seems like it would be a lot of money. So I just put together my first humbucker and my meter is reading 5.3k, it seems a little low. I have 5500 turns on the screw bobbin and 6500 on the slug bobbin with 42 gauge wire. Does this seem right or did I mess up somehow? This first one is basically an experiment so I can try everything out and get the feel for it. As I was typing this the timer went off so I was able to take it out of the waxing pot and test again and now it reads 5.9 Not low. You are using 42awg. Use this coil wind calculator app to help you out. http://www.salvarsan.org/pickups/Coil_Estimator.html And 6500 winds is a lot of 42... you must have crammed it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted May 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Thanks for the info RAD, I'll do some more research on this and pickup making in general. The 6500 turns left roughly 1mm of space between the wires and the edge of the bobbin. It looks like it filled pretty nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Thanks for the info RAD, I'll do some more research on this and pickup making in general. The 6500 turns left roughly 1mm of space between the wires and the edge of the bobbin. It looks like it filled pretty nicely. Are you using the 52mm bobbins? The WSC 50mm and 53mm bobbins (from mojo or ALLPARTS) are a bit smaller and it is hard to fit more than 5500 winds on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted May 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 I got 50mm bobbins from GuitarpartsUSA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 I got 50mm bobbins from GuitarpartsUSA Ok they are a bit bigger than a WSC bobbin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 So I just put together my first humbucker and my meter is reading 5.3k, it seems a little low. I have 5500 turns on the screw bobbin and 6500 on the slug bobbin with 42 gauge wire. Does this seem right or did I mess up somehow? This first one is basically an experiment so I can try everything out and get the feel for it. As I was typing this the timer went off so I was able to take it out of the waxing pot and test again and now it reads 5.9 Your numbers look just fine. There is a range of sizes that different manufacturers consider "good enough" for every wire gauge. So the DCR will be different if a specific lenght of wire (same gauge) of different brands are compared. Even different shipments from the same maker can differ slightly. Wow that's crazy.How much did that stuff cost you? Seems like it would be a lot of money. Well not really. A OK quality counter can be found for something like 30€ and up (check Distrelec, RS components or Conrad in Europe) and possible even cheeper from some other sources. The proximity switch is in the same range. So the total cost of parts were not that bad for a compact and extremely accurate winder. Check out http://designed2wind.alphalink.com.au/ for some wacky winders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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