automatic coil winder

everyone that has made a faraday power generator, or a transformator, or had to wind X with copper wire has encountered this problem: anoyed fingers, anoying repetitive tasks, and taking FOREVER just to get 10 winds.
with this easy to build jig, its alot faster, ur fingers will hurt less, and becouse its fast, its less repetitive.
also, its completely made of scrap (with exception of the dremel :D) and olmost any part used can be replaced.
and, becouse of only using scrap its really cheap (+-$5 without dremel)

no, it doesnt look pretty, but yes it does what its supposed to do.

please, read the instructable first, then think of what you will use it for, and think of a picture in your head first/draw some scetches, every build will be different due different sizes, different items used, different things to wind, etc. etc.


there are 3 things you will need to remember;
1: im dutch, so my english is far from perfect (but understandable i hope) if u have any comments on that, please point out wich section i misspelled/used wrong grammar, and il fix it.

2: this thing doesnt look dangerous, but in any case, i am not responible for any kind of damage this thing will produce when you have build this.

3: it can  take longer or shorter to build this, since everyone will use different scrap, this also influences the price and how good it works.

Step 1 Tools and scrap you will need

il add pictures if anyone needs them, but i dont think anyone does :D

well, the tools are pretty straightforward:

*dremel - some use in the build, but mostly for the final product
*diagonal cutters - cutting the wood and metal (can be done by metal saw)
*strong Xacto knife - for smoothing the wood
*soldering iron and tin- for melting together pieces of steel
*anything to lift the dremel, i used 3d hands

scraps, note, olmost anything can be replaced, use the stuff you have since olmost anything is usable:

*wood
*metal pipe
*broken dremel bit
*paper towel
*scrap pieces of metal sheet (coke can)
*some metal wire

Comments

[3leftturns]

I meant something more permanent than a stack of shop supplies. Maybe a wooden spool holder?

BTW, I love making stuff with what I have laying around. The hunt for supplies is just as much fun as the project.

Put heat the foam tube around the metal center, then heatshrink around the foam.

Cool project!

[godofal]

well, making stuff out of scrap is great :D
but then u would need like a 5inch heatshrinking tube?
i think that would cost alot more than ductape, and ppl have ductape lying around more often than 5inch heatshrink...

[3leftturns]

Cool idea, some improvements could be a dremel holder and wire spool holder. Also some foam tube and heat shrink could replace the paper towel/duct tape for a cleaner look.

Thanks for sharing!

[godofal]

wire spool holder? i described that in the last step (picture), its nothing fancy, but thats nothing on the project :D
but i saw a nice one made out of knex last time, il ask if i can link to that...

and heat shrink around the copper wire u mean? i think when winding ALOT of wire, ul have like 3 extra inches around, but it would hold/look better indeed...

foam tube instead of paper towels might be a good idea to, but i just used what i had, so if u have foam instead of paper towels, it should work :)

and thnx for the tips for building, could help others.