New pup winder in the works! With VIDEO!

scottyd · #1 03-09-2008, 06:57 PM

I decided to build a new winder for my custom bass pickups. My old one is quite a pain to use, I wound some great pups with it but it was just a hassle to set up and use each time which made the task dreadful. This winder will be almost fully automatic and is a breeze to use. With this new setup I will get better built, consistent sounding pickups.

The winder consists of a 24volt Dc motor that has two speeds fast and way too fast.

To control the speed I use a pulse width modulation speed control that is really smooth and offers superb RPM control. To use it you simply turn a pot to turn the speed up or down or off

Counting the turns of the spindle is handled by a Honeywell Bipolar Hall Effect sensor that sends a pulse per revolution to a Veeder Root preset counter. Because the sensor is Bipolar it needs both a north and south pole to pull in sequence before it will trigger, I choose this setup because I wind with my bobbins charged (neo magnets) The bobbin will not effect the sensor because only the south poles face it. The preset counter will kill power to the DC motor via an internal relay at any predetermined count. Thanks to Will Ramirez for the preset counter tips!

I've also got an automatic transversal worked out for it. Basically all this does is move the wire back and forth on the bobbin. It sounds simple, but there’s a lot more to it. The transversal consists of a linear stepper motor, Easydriver stepper motor driver board and an AVR microcontroller. The AVR tells the Easydriver when to move the motor and in what direction. The Easydriver applies the higher voltage that the stepper motor needs at the AVRs demand. The amount of different things the AVR can do is simply amazing. Future plans include synchronized transversal and automatic motor speed control. I had a lot of help on this part of the build so I can only take a little credit, the programming code needed to make the AVR jive is way above my skill level.(THANKS MATT!!!)

Everything is powered by a converted pc power supply. Why? because I've got tons of them

The supply has several outputs of 3 volts, 5volts, 12 volts, 24volts versatile enough to handle the whole outfit very nicely.

NOW THE VIDEO!
This was shot during the mock up so all of the winders guts are showing and not everything is mounted as it should be yet. It’s kind of ghetto to say the least. I can assure you that I do not plan on using it like this. Everything will be buttoned up and out of site when complete. I also have a guide/tension system I’m working on for it. I’ll post another video when those are done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1qnbqcpR_c

Please feel free to comment or question..

wilser · #2 03-09-2008, 07:06 PM

VERY COOL!

Andy_colassal · #3 03-09-2008, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilser

VERY COOL!

1+

grace & groove · #4 03-09-2008, 07:33 PM

Awesome is really saying the least.

Mon Rominee · #5 03-09-2008, 07:34 PM

Wow, that thing is awesome.

steve66 · #6 03-09-2008, 08:36 PM

Nice and quiet. Great job !

theshadow2001 · #7 03-09-2008, 09:14 PM

Yeah that looks great! Well done

Jonsbasses · #8 03-09-2008, 09:32 PM

Very bad ass, sir. I was expecting you would get too close with the camera and get whacked by the pickup! Hah. Do you plan on writing a tutorial for building this machine, or selling the plans to build one? I would be very interested if so.

Nomad98 · #9 03-10-2008, 07:30 AM

OK! That thing is VERY cool...

Probably one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time! I'm very interested in knowing how much you have invested in this (time and cash)? It looks very intimidating to build?

I know how hard it is to put together an understandable tutorial but this would be a great thing to see boiled down to a "here are the parts" STEP 1), STEP 2)... type tutorial.

Even without a tutorial... that is awesome! Can't wait to see the de-ghettoed version!

rumblinbass · #10 03-10-2008, 08:20 AM

THAT IS SO FRICKIN' AWESOME!!!

scottyd · #11 03-10-2008, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomad98

OK! That thing is VERY cool...

Probably one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time! I'm very interested in knowing how much you have invested in this (time and cash)? It looks very intimidating to build?

I know how hard it is to put together an understandable tutorial but this would be a great thing to see boiled down to a "here are the parts" STEP 1), STEP 2)... type tutorial.

Even without a tutorial... that is awesome! Can't wait to see the de-ghettoed version!

I dont have any plans, every thing was built on the fly. I dont mind helping anyone if they ask, I may work on a tutorial, Im just not very good at that kind of thing.

SDB Guitars · #12 03-10-2008, 02:24 PM

That's pretty darned fancy, sir! I like it. Now, the final step is to have the speed control automated, too, so that you can start up slow, it will ramp itself up, and then at the end, it will ramp down X number of turns before it stops (100 or so?).

scottyd · #13 03-10-2008, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDB Guitars

That's pretty darned fancy, sir! I like it. Now, the final step is to have the speed control automated, too, so that you can start up slow, it will ramp itself up, and then at the end, it will ramp down X number of turns before it stops (100 or so?).

Yep thats the plan.

Phil Mailloux · #14 03-10-2008, 04:27 PM

Very nice, I've been thinking of adding a CNC traverse on my winder for a little while. Are you running the traverse through CNC software like TurboCNC or Mach3? Or is the programming on the driver chip?

iamlowsound · #15 03-10-2008, 05:05 PM

Wow, I would love a tutorial on how to build one.

lowsound

SDB Guitars · #16 03-10-2008, 06:54 PM

I sounded like the controller was stand alone, from the description.

I'd be interested in knowing how much one of these costs to build... my shop feels empty, now that I've seen THAT...

Basshole · #17 03-10-2008, 07:03 PM

Epic. Well done, sir!

scottyd · #18 03-10-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Mailloux

Very nice, I've been thinking of adding a CNC traverse on my winder for a little while. Are you running the traverse through CNC software like TurboCNC or Mach3? Or is the programming on the driver chip?

The programming is on the chip.

This may surprise most of you but, I've got about 75 bucks in the whole deal. Ebay is your friend! I got the counter for $3.99 which isnt bad when you consider what they cost new! Lucky find, not to mention ebays full of this stuff and apparently it isn't in very high demand.

RedemptionBass · #19 03-10-2008, 07:21 PM

That's awesome, man.

I've had the thought to rig something up on the top of the spindle of my spindle sander. Might be too powerful though. I'll have the rotation and the oscillation to get the winds even I'm just not sure how to rig up a counter. Something to ponder.

Not that I have made a single pickup in my life, but someday I'll have to give it a try.

Nomad98 · #20 03-10-2008, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottyd

I dont have any plans, every thing was built on the fly. I dont mind helping anyone if they ask, I may work on a tutorial, Im just not very good at that kind of thing.

I certainly understand that... tutorials take a lot of time to make! Very nice machine you built. Looks like I will be searching ebay for parts now!