Mini coil winder

[Tubetec]

I got tired of trying to do thousands of turns with my humble hand cranked winder ,  was fun but trying to keep the winding rate steady with the right hand and concentrate on laying the wires down neatly at the same time with the left ,but  left handed doesnt suit me at all  . I decided much better results could be had from a simple winder made from a cordless drill, a pwm speed controller , a old style Veeder Root turns counter , and a electronic turns counter with a relay  . The idea is that the controller ,which also has accel/decel function, will have its run/stop switch toggled by the relay on the counter , that way a preset number of turns can be punched in, then the controler starts and stops the motor smoothly not abruptly which would easily break small gauge magnet wires .  I might also find a way of making a manual speed mode using the original trigger speed control from the drill .



Its mainly small signal inductors ,input transformers and chokes I want to use it for , random wound stuff with high turns counts .
What I need to figure out is a basic wire tensioner scheme , I have ceramic lined pulleys and nylon  roller guides from an old  VHS player I plan to use,Im also thinking felt pressure pads and spring loaded dual roller a bit like the 'Studer' approach to tape tension  , What I need is a chapter in a book specifically dealing with wire tensioners and how to make them  , if anyone has spotted a good chapter in any of the winding books posted let me know .

Related topics below threw up some interesting stuff from way back ,

 

[Martin Griffith]

I'm also thinking felt pressure pads and spring loaded dual roller a bit like the 'Studer' approach to tape tension

Those Studer tensioners were nice.  A closed loop servo

For tension I always thought that magnetic eddy current brakes might work, using magnets from defunct hard drives,

 

[Tubetec]

Tensioners are available , both magnetically opperated passive and others with electromagnets also more old type sprung ones .
Its about 100 for the most basic ones out of China ,and each type only works over a tension certain range .

Interesting you mention hard drive magnets , maybe the little head assembly in a hd could be rejigged into a tension arm with the permanent magnet and the elcetro magnet used to control the force , the spindle motor of the drive might work as a flywheel  which the wire pulls around and so damps any change in the rate of speed . The Chinese made tensioners are just this kind of arrangement ,a pully/flywheel which the coil loops around once then the tension arm , pivoted and a bit like the top of a small fishing rod with a roller at the top . Maybe the spinning  motor  develops a voltage which could be used to control the electromagnetic force on the arm somehow ,Im not sure exactly how it all works , I might hack apart an old desk top 3.5 inch drive and see if something like that is feasible , below an electronic tensioner ,about 600 off ebay

 

[Tubetec]

The basic one seems  to work a bit like the line tensioner adjustment on a fishing reel  , the various rollers added  to straighten any 'set' in the wire off the bobbin . The little rollers on rotary bail spinning reels might come in handy, as well as the spool and tension mechanism . A bunch of surplus fishing odds and ends might be a good place to start  ,fishing rods are mostly classified by their casting weight , so suitable rod tips could be easily selected for various tension requirements .

All the individual parts of the tensioner are available from Chinese specialist winding suppliers , but very little of it appears on ebay

Id hesitate to bother trying to read the manuals for the Chinese tensioners ,Id probably only end up more confused