I have bounced around the idea of making my own pickups for a quite a while.
Most professional pickup winding machines are just out of my price range for just my personal use and the DIY winders I have seen people make have a trial and error factor involved in getting just the right parts to work together is more than I want to get into as the errors could add up to a considerable cost anyway plus the frustration of the failures.
Evidently, googling "pickup winder" was the wrong thing to search for as that will return results with a high price tag because it is associated with musical instruments and luthiers.
By chance, I happened across "coil winders" and in particular, this one. There are several eBay sellers that carry them, here is the results of an eBay search: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=NZ-1+coil+winder&_sop=15
Here is a video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrBVDodD3I
My question to those of you who build their own pickups is, what is your opinion of this machine? Will it work for my intended purpose or do you see problems?
I don't mind that it is manually operated as I have no plans to mass produce pickups.
So tell me your thoughts.
Replies
you might could plan around the tool, mount your empty bobbin on the shaft to wind it, then insert the core & magnets after...
I went ahead and ordered the counter and voltage control. The NZ-1 might have been an easier route but getting the drill out of the junk box and putting it to use again is just the better choice.
Shipping will take a while but I have to figure out how I'm going to mount the motor which make take some trial and error.
That long rod you see coming out is actually a threaded rod that can be removed and replaced with other attachments. I would just need a shorter bolt of the same thread and epoxy it to a piece of wood or aluminum bar to create a mount.
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Well, I actually have an old B&D 14v cordless drill that had the battery die long ago. I also have the wall wort battery charger for it.
I found a "Down Voltage Regulator Board Speed Control" that appears would work with the chargers voltage to get speed control for very cheap:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LM317-DC-Linear-Converter-Down-Voltage-Regu...
Then I would need to rig a counter. I have seen where people have used pedometers and cheap digital calculators along with some magnetic switches. But, the problem is that almost all electronics now days are surface mounted components that have carbon contacts instead of thru-hole printed boards with copper traces that can be soldered to. So, I would have to go on a hunt to find something that works. Or, I can just use one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Punch-Counter-Digital-5-Digit-Including...
for another $10.
Now the drill's motor has a slight bit of wobble in the housing which is not a problem for a cheap drill but having the motor wobble even the slightest while winding coils would not be good. So, I would have to take the motor/arbor out and mount it in a more stable box and mount the counter/switch on to it. On the plus side, I would not need a separate project box to mount the speed control.
So, yeah, I could get away with building one for about half the price. Just more hassle 'cause I'm sure I wouldn't get it right the first time...
A sewing machine is just too big for the limited space I have available. I need something compact that I can clamp to my bench and stow away when not needed - that's a big plus for the NZ-1.
Now I'm back on the fence about this thing. Curses!
That counter is perfect and well priced, it will maintain accuracy at far greater speeds than you will need, something some calculators struggle with, it should have + and _ terminals that you can connect to a suitable wall wart, although the ad doesn't show the electrical connections, i'm pretty confident it is just what you need.
The winder doesn't have a way to mount the pickup bobbin unless you modify it. You'll need to come up with a flat disc that can be mounted on the end of the shaft with a shaft collar.
Unless you've bought it already, I second the suggestion for getting either a power drill or used sewing machine (like from Goodwill or your grandmother).
For pickup mounting on the drill, you can use a board with a bolt mounted in the center and countersunk so the head of the bolt is below the surface. Then chuck that into the drill. Or you can buy something like this buffer pad drill attachment and remove the sponge. https://www.ebay.com/i/232350148113?chn=ps&dispItem=1
For the sewing machine, if it has a flat wheel on the right, you can simply tape your bobbin on there. Otherwise, you'll need to rig a flat surface to attach to the wheel.
Thanks for the feedback guys. I can't find anything really negative about these but can't find anything specific to pickup winding with it either. On the 8:1 setup 2k turns for my first experiments shouldn't be too tedious by hand and I should be able to rig up a motor down the road if need be.
I guess I'll just have to take the leap and see how it goes.
they will work fine, easily adapted to a power drill also, another cheap option is to just use an old sewing machine with a speed control pedal, i use one and it leaves both hands free for adjusting tension/tracking on the fly, unless you intend to make lots of pups, i wouldn't spend too much
Heh, that's what I'm afraid of. But then, I'm waaaay past 16, might survive with just a flesh wound.