This will probably be more useful to custom speaker builders, but coil winding has always been a bit tedious. [iwicom] put together a simple coil winder using a hand drill, a magnet, a reed switch that triggers a pedometer. Aside from the coil winder, I love the idea of using the pedometer as a cheap event counter.
pedometers are great.
the local dollar tree has them for…. a dollar!
they’ve got a simple mechanical “swinging weighted arm” switch, so it’s really easy to interface with it.
i used one for a frame counter on a super 8 camera. another mod i saw for a frame counter used a calculator: set it up so that each time the “=” button is pressed, repeat the last operation. so “plus one” was the obvious counting operation.
but seriously, if you can find them for a buck, stock up because the need to count things (quickly, or lots of something, especially) comes up a lot.
and you get to play a game trying to walk less every day. heh. am i doing it right?
Posted at 3:23 am on Oct 14th, 2007 by joelanders
looks pretty ingenious, i like the use of the pedometer. dosent seem to mention anything about wire tensioning, but i guess thats done by hand as its wound.
built a coil winding device for guitar pickups sometime ago, and trying to maintain constant tension on 42swg wire was a horrendous task.
*shudders at memorys of steel tubes and springy things with pulleys on*
Posted at 6:16 am on Oct 14th, 2007 by hitch
I’ve also seen a cheap pocket calculator used to count events, type “+1″ then rig your switch to the “=” key. Might not work on all models, though.
Posted at 7:01 am on Oct 14th, 2007 by Alex B
If anyone is interested, I did a software based (free) coil wind counter a few years ago. Look at the “Wind Counter”: http://pickups.myonlinesite.com/programs.php
Input is accepted through a 9 pin serial port, and most people utilize a a reed switch to trigger it.
Posted at 9:56 am on Oct 14th, 2007 by Adam Ziegler
Cool machine! When I created my homemade speaker, I had some trouble to make the coil. I hope I can build a coil winding machine and improve my speaker.
http://www.josepino.com/other_projects/index?homemade-hifi-speaker.jpc
Having built a lot of coil winders, I find it much easier to do this using power: drill a hole about 5″ in from the end of a mandrel, put a couple of 3/8″ sealed bearings (like from newer bicycle hubs: they can be thrashed) on the mandrel, clamp the bearings in the vice, and put a power drill on the one end of the rod. Stick a piece of wire through the hole and spin it up. You can use a pedometer or a rotation-counter. It’s way faster and easier on your wrists than using a hand drill, and after the first million windings, your wrists will thank you. Wear a glove on the hand guiding the wire onto the winding: if you get any skin caught between the wire going onto the winding and the winding itself it’ll just clip that chunk of skin right off and that leaves a big nasty hole.
Posted at 4:16 pm on Oct 14th, 2007 by John Bump
Coil winding by Dr Electro
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/490188/easy_coil_winding_by_dr_electro/
Posted at 6:59 am on Oct 19th, 2007 by Dr Electro
Coil winding video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/490188/easy_coil_winding_by_dr_electro/
Posted at 8:33 am on Oct 19th, 2007 by Dr Electro
Maybe not quite as hack-y, but a bicycle odometer would work quite well. Cheap ones are triggered by a mechanical cam-and-gear, higher-end ones by a magnetic trigger that you could glue (or merely magnetically attach!) to the crank gear. I also like Dr. Electro’s spinning reel winder; or a sewing machine bobbin winder would do a great job on smaller coils.
Posted at 1:26 pm on Nov 20th, 2007 by Geedavey
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great device, probably will make one myself if i can get around to it. also, i think you spelt Pedometer wrong the second time.
Posted at 1:47 am on Oct 14th, 2007 by tony