Winding problems

[adamasd]

So I finished my winder and decided to make a lipstick style pickup with it to test it out. Figured it would be nice and simple since I did not have to make a bobbin or do any measurements/pay to close of attention to my winding technique. A few hours later and a garbage can half full of magnet wire I realized I was very very wrong.

The problem is that as the coil builds up the bottom spreads out and eventually slides off the edge of the magnet. I have tried different tensions loosening the tension as the coil builds up, different gauges of wire, narrower coils, brushing on a coat of wax every few layers and on and on. I am stumped as to how they ever could have made these production volumes, anyone have any ideas as to what I could try next? I am getting pretty determined to make one of these, but I have not clue as of what to try next.

thanks

 

[12afael]

I don´t have a lot of experience winding, just a couple of transformers and I´ve seen to a friend that wind his own pick ups.
I´m not sure how is the lipstik pickup , but on others bobbins part of the trick is the distance from the bobbin and the hand or wire guide, if it is too short you will have problems. 30cm away from the bobbin is a good distance I think.

Rafael

 

[adamasd]

-I´m not sure how is the lipstik pickup

Lipstick pickups are just a bar magnet, like the bar magnet from a humbucker with the wire wrapped directly onto it, no bobbin.

-but on others bobbins part of the trick is the distance from the bobbin and the hand or wire guide, if it is too short you will have problems. 30cm away from the bobbin is a good distance I think.

Ohh I have moved the guide all over the place, as close as I could get it and up to about 5 inches away (13 or so cm). I have tried everything I can think of, even things I was fairly certain would not work. There must be a trick that I am not realizing, hopefully someone will come along and point it out before much more wire ends up in the trash. If nothing else my technique is really improving with this.

thanks

 

[gyraf]

To get nice clean winding edges, you'll probably need a temporary bobbin (cardboard or something) and laquering the coil to lock it in place before removing that..

 

[mikka]

:thumb:

Make up some removable "ears".....

 

[adamasd]

I thought about the temporary bobbin/removable ears but it seems like if the winding is pushing outwards off the edges at all it will just collapse when they are removed, or at least loosen up.It is on my list of things to try though. I also had the idea of having the wire go through hot wax right before it goes onto the bobbin, so the wire will glue itself in place as the wire dries.

Thanks for the help.

 

[shabtek]

make up a bobbin out of cardstock and celophane tape or similar...be careful of too much tension on first layers of windings as the wire will be damaged by corners/sharp edges

 

[PRR]

http://cigarboxguitars.com/workshops/Pickup_Workshop.php

 

[adamasd]

-make up a bobbin out of cardstock and celophane tape or similar...be careful of too much tension on first layers of windings as the wire will be damaged by corners/sharp edges

As the picture PRR posted shows there is no room in the tube for a bobbin, and I can not use a bigger tube since I do have a space limitation. As for the sharp corners, I rounded them off to so that is not an issue. I am getting closer, but I still think there is some sort of technique that I am not aware of for this, since Danelectro managed to do these in production quantities.

 

[mr coffee]

You might want to talk to the folks over at ampage - they have a pickup winding forum there with pretty knowledgeable folks who are willing to help with stuff like this.

 

[BYacey]

Bee wax works nicely for holding the wire in place as it's somewhat sticky when cold but still maintains the ability to move things around a little or even unwinding later. If the coil will be exposed to wide variations in tempeature it's nice to have a little "give" on the windings otherwise you could experience breakage.Years ago they used bee wax on radio RF and IF coils as well as using it to lock the ferrite slugs in position while still maintaining serviceability.