I see it was discontinued. If you can't find a suitable substitute, PM me with your address and I'll mail the extra one I have out.
Dan DeBruler said:
Cool. Just so happens I have an old sewing machine at my house. The counter is easy to find - pretty much name your price and buy it - but that particular optical sensor is kind of tricky to locate. I'll poke around a bit.
Winder, that's easy. Go to a thrift shop or flea market, yard sale and pickup an old sewing machine. One of the ones with a large flat knob on the end wheel. Take apart everything not needed between the motor and shaft like the assembly that raises and lowers the needle. Done. Just use double sided foam tape to attach the bobbin.
The counter I use is a Red Lion that I picked up on Ebay for about $15. The counter itself runs off an internal battery that is good for 10 years but has no kind of sensor, just an input and ground. I purchased a reflective type of optical sensor online. This one in fact. I went with this because it is tailor made for mounting.
It's only 4 leads and two are ground. One side is a non visible light LED and the other side is the light sensor. I had to make a small current source circuit to power this. There is an really good discussion on winders and I post a picture of the circuit somewhere around the end at Pickup discussion
The model number is the QRB one on the picture. If you have trouble finding it on the web let me know. I ordered a few and only used one. So I have a spare. You will want to download the data sheet because the lead numbers are not sequential.
The Electrisola is good stuff. The heavy build insulation adds a bit more space between the conductors and limits the amount of wire you can get on a given bobbin by a small amount. This has a slight affect on output and tends to soften the tone to give it a bit of a old vintage vibe. This is what I like about it for CBG's which given what they are made out of and that many are shorter scaled instruments, I like that the pickups I build are not shrill sounding on them.
As I mostly build pickups for CBG's, I mostly use 42 heavy formvar which is what this stuff basically is. That and it is a pretty good bargain. I hope yours comes in better shape than mine but it wasn't too bad. 1000' is really not a lot to loose at that price.
4-5 lbs will wind quite a lot of pickups. Happy winding.
Dan DeBruler said:
Don (not Ron) - I just ordered some of the 42 guage surplus on your recommendation. If it ain't good, I guess I'll have a nice ballast for a small catapult I'm making.
UPS delivered a 1.79lb spool of 43 gauge single PN wire today. I paid $58 total with shipping on Ebay. Not a lot of cheap bargains for the most commonly used stuff. That why the heavy build surplus stuff is a good bargain. In this case I just didn't want to pay $200 for a larger spool as I don't us the lighter stuff much with what I do.
Glad you guys found the information useful.
I am Copernicus! (Just doesn't have the same ring to it.)
Replies
Dan DeBruler said:
We are all Spartacus!
Winder, that's easy. Go to a thrift shop or flea market, yard sale and pickup an old sewing machine. One of the ones with a large flat knob on the end wheel. Take apart everything not needed between the motor and shaft like the assembly that raises and lowers the needle. Done. Just use double sided foam tape to attach the bobbin.
The counter I use is a Red Lion that I picked up on Ebay for about $15. The counter itself runs off an internal battery that is good for 10 years but has no kind of sensor, just an input and ground. I purchased a reflective type of optical sensor online. This one in fact. I went with this because it is tailor made for mounting.
The model number is the QRB one on the picture. If you have trouble finding it on the web let me know. I ordered a few and only used one. So I have a spare. You will want to download the data sheet because the lead numbers are not sequential.
The Electrisola is good stuff. The heavy build insulation adds a bit more space between the conductors and limits the amount of wire you can get on a given bobbin by a small amount. This has a slight affect on output and tends to soften the tone to give it a bit of a old vintage vibe. This is what I like about it for CBG's which given what they are made out of and that many are shorter scaled instruments, I like that the pickups I build are not shrill sounding on them.
As I mostly build pickups for CBG's, I mostly use 42 heavy formvar which is what this stuff basically is. That and it is a pretty good bargain. I hope yours comes in better shape than mine but it wasn't too bad. 1000' is really not a lot to loose at that price.
4-5 lbs will wind quite a lot of pickups. Happy winding.
Dan DeBruler said:
Damn, I wanted to be Spartacus.
UPS delivered a 1.79lb spool of 43 gauge single PN wire today. I paid $58 total with shipping on Ebay. Not a lot of cheap bargains for the most commonly used stuff. That why the heavy build surplus stuff is a good bargain. In this case I just didn't want to pay $200 for a larger spool as I don't us the lighter stuff much with what I do.
Glad you guys found the information useful.
I am Copernicus! (Just doesn't have the same ring to it.)-
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