Pickup Winder V1 Build...

[JasonRobert]

I was trying to wind a pickup a few weeks ago, and the electric screwdriver held onto a workmate with cable ties and no speed control, as well as the nurmerous breakages of the thin wire wasnt working for me.

SO... I looked on stewmac and saw the price of a winder. £215 ($400) + postage to England + taxes.

So I decided to make my own. So far I have ordered:

-A 9v Motor (No load speed: 10800rpm, torque: 3.5oz - in) 3mm shaft
-6mm shaft
-6mm - 6mm coupling
-6mm Motor Shaft Adaptor
-double pole "on - off - on" switch
-variable speed control circuit for dc motor

I have also ordered a counter from ebay, but I dont know when that will arrive...

Here is the motor and variable speed circuit



and here is the switch, coupling and motor shaft adapter



So far I have tested the motor, and the varible speed unit and it all works fine. The motor polarity will be reversed with the switch instead of reversing the polarity of the power supply because the variable speed circuit only works with a certain polarity (if that makes sense... )

Here is a diagram of the switch....but instead of going to a battery, it goes to the variable speed circuit.


My job for tonight is to fix the shaft to the motor using the coupling. The coupling has a hole of 6mm, and the motor has a shaft of 3mm. So what I will do is cut a small section from the shaft and drill a hole in it DEAD CENTRE and then glue it to the motor shaft. This job I will take my time over because If I mess it up the whole thing will wobble and shake, and will be completly useless.

Jason.

[RodeoTex]

Ooooh this is going to be a cool build to watch.

Please post all the little details as you go. So far, I gotta say the pictures are great.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by RodeoTex

Ooooh this is going to be a cool build to watch.

Please post all the little details as you go. So far, I gotta say the pictures are great.

I will try to post good pictures. One of the above is a little blurred, but thats because it is quite close up.

At the moment I am have lots of trouble getting the hole in the shaft centre. Plus the 3.2mm drill bits (I found the motor shaft is actually 3.19mm or something) keep breaking in the hole because I think they are getting too hot. I have turned to drilling holes into 6mm bolts now so I dont waste the shaft!

EDIT: ok so this really isnt working. What I may do buy a 6mm pulley and a 2mm pulley from here: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=43558&doy=19m8 and then drill out the 2mm to 3.2mm.

I will think over this problem tonight. any thoughts on this are very welcome!

Just a bit more info on the winder....

- I am still thinking of a mounting system for holding the pickup while I wind it. I have seen people hold on the pickup with double sided tape, but I am not sure if this is strong enough, I dont want the pickup flying off at a high speed!

- It will be all mounted to a plywood base with the motor, most of the shaft and all the electronics in a box. the only part showing from this box will be a part of the shaft with the pickup bobbin holder.



... I will finilize the drawings now I have some measurements tonight and post tomorrow.


EDIT AGAIN:
I Just found a 6mm round washer, which I drilled out to 3.2mm and I thought if I had 6 or 7 of these, glued them together and then glued this to the shaft It may work. I will go to B and Q tomorrow and get some.

[JasonRobert]

Just a quick update: The motor drained a 9v battery in about 3 minutes, so I think this one will need to run on a mains adapter.

As I said I will be scratching around B&Q today for something that has a diameter of 6mm and a hole smaller than 3mm so I can drill it out to 3.2mm. I will most probably end up glueing lots of little washers together, but something like a tiny spacer may turn up...

Here is a drawing of the main idea of the drivetrain (I think drivetrain is the word... having been at a car garage since I was 2 I usually think in car terms ) ...the first picture is the simple version which will work if I can find something to make the motor shaft bigger..... Those cicuit diagrams will hopefully be the only cicuits within the whole winder.




and this second version shows what will happen if I use a series of pulleys to get to the bigger 6mm shaft size. either way is pretty similar... only the second way pushes the cost up quite a bit, and if I keep buying expensive the whole thing may not be worth it...




EDIT: Just found a nylon spacer http://small-parts-inc.amazonwebstor...rce=froogle-GB which is the exact measurments I need (6mm outside diameter 3.2mm inside). If the trip to B&Q doesnt bring anything good, then this is what i will use.

I am glad I found these because I will buy a couple of these but with a 6mm inside diameter and use them instead of bearings. This means it will need lubricating more, but at £10 for each bearing it is a considerable saving. So far the build has amounted to £60 not including wood as I aleady have scraps of plywood. The front face with all the switches and dials will be made of 2mm plastic from ebay which I think is quite cheap.

[JasonRobert]

Finally I have found the 6mm outside diameter and 3.2mm inside diameter spacer! And after searching everywhere the part came in the form of a guitar part. How ironic (I think ironic is the word?). infact I used an old machinehead shaft, which I had to drill out to 3.2mm (from 3mm i think?) and chop. here is the result:



This will be glued onto the motor shaft (with not too much glue so I dont stick the motor together!) and left overnight. then I will attach the driveshaft and do some detailed measurments to see how high the motor needs to be mounted. aparently ebay says my counter will arrive tomorrow. we shall see...

[JasonRobert]

I have started work on this a bit earlier today because I have the next two days off work because I had my GCSE results earlier today (and got mostly Cs and Bs which I am extremley happy about and I think ive got the grades to get into college).

anyway... following last nights glueing of the drilled out machinehead shaft, I checked on it a little bit earlier and here is the result:



(I have found the closeup autofocus button on my camera so I will be able to take better pictures now!)


Now when I ran the motor I could feel a little vibration which means that the bit I stuck on was not exactly centred.

So I put a small layer of lead free solder all over the "new" shaft so it was just over 6mm (this was a bit risky because I didnt know whether the solder would stick. but thankfully it did. I must also note that while I was doing this the motor was held so the shaft was below the motor at all times so no solder could get in and clog the motor up.)

Then once the solder was dry I ran the motor at its fastest speed, and I used a file and a square to file down the solder until the overall diameter was not even half a milimeter under 6mm. I was using the motor almost like it was a lathe. The vibration is almost stopped, but I can see the rod is very slightly bent at one end meaning the whole thing will wobble and shake about, so that will need straightening out at a later date...

The next step is to produce a baseboard for the whole thing. I have made this baseboard out of 3/4" plywood (or 17mm) because this is all I have. I could have used any type or size of wood as long as it is rigid enough to hold everything together.



The second job was to decide how big the baseboard needs to be. To do this a placed the whole drive train on the board leaving around two inches around the three sides of the motor, and then enough room at the end of the board for any device to hold the pickup in place. I can always make this smaller if it is too big, I can also easily cut out another base if this one is too small because I have used a cheap wood. I decided on 20"x7" but again, it all depends on the parts used. If I had a starter motor from a car for example, the board would need to be at least twice the size.

This is the baseboard cut out:



and this is the baseboard (and my boots) with everything laid on it:



I think the next job is to bring the motor up higher. I will be using a few offcuts of plywood stacked on top of each other, which will then be screwed from the bottom with four screws.

[JasonRobert]

I just glued four 2 1/16 x 3" pieces of 3/4" plywood together:

(there is an obvious mistake in the following picture, a mistake so obvious I didnt realise until I pushed all the pieces together!)




This picture shows the bits clamped together. The glue is dripping from all sides which means there is a even spread of glue (and that I used a bit too much glue!)


This will dry overnight and I will screw the motor to it. I will also note that I have cut out another one of these bits of wood in case it needs to be raised a bit higher at a later date.

I have also recieved a wiring diagram for my electronic digital counter by email, but still have not recieved the actual counter! This helps me a little bit though as I can order a reed switch and a reset push button for the counter, and a wheel in which I will attach a small neodymium magent one one side, while on the other there will be a counter weight to help with wobbles.

[JasonRobert]

I am not quite sure where to go from here. I may order all the stuff I think i will need, and then see how it all fits together.

I am expecting to re do a lot of things on this as this is the first version, and I am not sure what will work and what wont. In fact, I have already re done the enlargement on the shaft of the motor. I have made it longer because the screw in the coupling was not gripping it well enough. As the hole is not perfectly dead centre (again) I will have to run the motor and make it straight with a sharp object, then add the solder to that, and build it up to 6mm again.

Just looked at the next order total, and it comes to £40, which brings the grand total to about £100 or $185. I think I realistally going to spend £150 or $276 which is quite a saving from $400 or £215 + postage and taxes.

[reddogbass]

You can make your own "counter" easily if you don't get the E-bay one. Here's what I did-

Get a handheld calculator- take it apart and and find the contacts under the = (equal) key. Solder two wires to the circuit board. Drill a little hole in the case, and feed the wires through them when you re-assemble it. Attach the leads to your Reid switch.

To operate- turn it in- enter "1", then "+". Everytime the magnet closes the Reid switch, the value will increase by one.

It's really easy, and the contacts on the circuit board are easy to find- because even I could do it. Cost? Free calculator and 15 minutes of time.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by reddogbass

You can make your own "counter" easily if you don't get the E-bay one. Here's what I did-

Get a handheld calculator- take it apart and and find the contacts under the = (equal) key. Solder two wires to the circuit board. Drill a little hole in the case, and feed the wires through them when you re-assemble it. Attach the leads to your Reid switch.

To operate- turn it in- enter "1", then "+". Everytime the magnet closes the Reid switch, the value will increase by one.

It's really easy, and the contacts on the circuit board are easy to find- because even I could do it. Cost? Free calculator and 15 minutes of time.

Hey thanks that is a really good idea and I will probably use that if the counter doesnt turn up. I was also going to use a pedometer, and locate the switch and solder two wires to it for the switch.

I didnt think it would be difficult to find a low cost digital counter considering the amount of factory machines which rely on a certain amount something on whatever is being made, like cotton thread, transformers, or even things that arent wound like plastic spoons just so they know how many they have made. The only useful counters I found (eg ones that actually reset) are on ebay. The guy did have 99.9% of 3000 good feedback, and the listing did say 3-8 working days delivery AND the item could possibly located in hong kong.

I also noticed that the counter I have ordered runs on a max of 5v dc, so I will need to make a converter to change 9v to 5v.

[JasonRobert]

I noticed there is a lot of rambling from me in this thread, so I will type only the necessary and if someone wants to ask a question on something I will only be too happy to answer.

This is the build so fat (EDIT: haha spelling mistake! I meant FAR but I will leave it because it made me laugh) . I have fitted the motor on its "stand" which is fixed from the back with 4 screws. The motor is mounted on some rubbers I got from an old broken car radio/cassette player.



I have also clipped the wires down just to keep it all a bit tidier. I hate opening things (mostly guitars) where there wires are everywhere and you cant tell where anything goes.

[JasonRobert]

I have now made the box in which everything will be housed. again, it is the same plywood as the base. This is the basic shape;



Those pieces will be mitred on 3 sides, except for the top which will be mitred on every side.

Also the side in which the shaft will perude will have a hole (for the shaft ) and on the outside a bearing will be mounted to a plywood tower (like what the motor is mounted to) to hold the shaft to stop it from thrashing around. The tower will be bolted from the bottom with two
bolts without glue to enable height adjustment with washers. here is a quick sketch:



There will also be a big cutout on the front side, with a 3mm recessed lip around the edge to take the 3mm plastic which will hold the switches and all that stuff.

[JasonRobert]

So. The mitring idea was absolute bobbins, because it would be a complete waste of time on this build. The whole point in the pickup winder is to be a working machine, not something that looks pretty. Mitring would waste time, and also have more potential for going wrong. so I have instead glued and screwed each piece, and shortened two of the sides to accomodate for the two 45 degree angles not being there...

Here are a few pictures. Most of them are self explanetry.

Marking the shape to be cut out.


Drilled four 10mm holes in each corner so the jigsaw could cut the hole out...


here it is all cut out...


And here I have just take the router set to a 3mm depth and routed freehand (sorry Jwells) around the edge. I did this freehand as the guide would need to be reset for every side as some sides are slightly bigger than others. As I have said before this is not meant to look good, its meant to work, so why put in the extra work for something that will do exactly the same thing? Oh, and I have squared the edges on the recess with a chisel so I dont have to round over the edges on the plastic...


continued on next post...

[JasonRobert]

This is the state its in now. I am awaiting the bearings so there is no point in putting the side piece on yet as I wont know the location until I have the bearing.

[guitarbuilder]

That counter that reddogbass talked about earlier in the thread is in a DIY series called Instructables on the net. I've ordered some supplies for a winder also. I'm waiting on a reed switch or two.
Marty

[RodeoTex]

Wow, this is really clever and resourceful on your part.
I didn't even realize your age until you mentioned something about getting into college. I hope you are going into engineering.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by RodeoTex

Wow, this is really clever and resourceful on your part.
I didn't even realize your age until you mentioned something about getting into college. I hope you are going into engineering.

Thanks! As I said I have been at the car garage since I was about 2 which makes it about 14 years I have been there inbetween school, so I have seen and learnt a lot from just watching the cars. When I was about 12 I made a go kart using a lawnmower motor and a couple of old bikes so I have had a lot of experience in building things but I was always interested in wiring it up, and adding radio and cassette players... basically anything electrical I enjoyed doing.

the engineering course was high on my list along with a mechanic course but I am going to do a course in electrical installation. It seems to be the best option for me to be an electrician.


I ordered most of what I need last week from www.maplin.com, and they usually deliver very quickly so I should have it tomorrow or the next day. The sheet plastic is from ebay, so it could arrive anytime from tomorrow to next week.

[JasonRobert]

A lot has happened since my last post. All the parts arrived a couple of days ago, so I think I have everything now. First I will start with the plastic. I ordered 3 A4 sized sheets of 3mm acrylic sheet, I only need one, but I got three just in case...

Here are the steps I used to cut it.

First I worked out the width.


I then scored the line over and over with a stanley knife until there is a fair sized groove in the plastic.


I then held the plastic so the scored line was in line with a work surface, and then applied short sharp pressure to the bit I want to break off, and keep doing this until it splits. As you can see for the most part this is perfectly straight apart from one end which split irregularly, possibly because it wasnt scored enough. This wont matter because I can split this part off when I do the second cut.


I did the second cut and the same thing happened, so I just used the knife to cut this part off. and here is the piece in the box!

[JasonRobert]

Now, the next step is to cut out lots of holes for mounting things. Here is the layout.


now to drill holes. There will be a rectangular cutout for the counter, and I drilled four holes in each corner for the jigsaw to cut through. I used metal drill bits mostly on this just because they gave the cleanest cut when I tested them. The holes need to be drilled slowly with very little pressure otherwise cracking will occur. (as I found out and had to start again luckily I got more than one sheet. Just to verify this is the second piece you are now seeing!) I will also say that if you drill too slowly it melts a little bit around the edges, so I stopped when it felt like it was going to melt and just cooled the drill bit down with a damp rag.


The recangle was cut out with a fine metal cutting blade in the jigsaw, and I also used the jigsaw to square the edges. again I cut slowly, but not too slowly!


And here is the piece with everything mounted. the little red button is the counter reset. And you may notice the corner has split off so I will simply glue a little piece on.


Tomorrow I will start on mounting the bearings and making the thing to hold the bobbins. then over the next few days I will get the reed switch working, and then wire everything up!

[JasonRobert]

I have fitted the bearing which will help guide the shaft and keep it straight. It will be held on with a scrap piece of the plastic. First I had to decide how high the bearing needed to be fitted, and to do this the motor needs to exactly parallel to the base, and because the motor is mounted on rubbers it is very easy to get it parallel just by tightening a few of the screws. Then I measured the distance from the base to the centre of the shaft, and this is the distance the centre of the bearing needs to be from the base!

So I drilled a a few holes and joined then up so I have some sort of adjustment on the bearing.


Then I drilled a big hole in the side piece to take the shaft, and started to get the bearing into position.


Then I used a couple of brackets to bold the piece of plastic to the box. The plastic did crack when drilling one of the holes, so I superglued it, and then used a small scrap piece of plastic and glued that over the join so I had some support on the weak spot. There is no stress on this piece, and it wont be seen, so I did the easy option and repaired it instead of making another.


Then I greased the bearing and ran the motor for a few minutes, then greased again and ran the motor again. This makes sure the bearings a fully lubricated and wont wear out quickly. I do have another as they come in packs of two so I do have a spare.

[JasonRobert]

And next I fitted the reed switch. I mounted the little thing onto some pcb stuff and drilled a hole in it for a screw so I can adjust how close it is to the magnet.


The next picture will be too confusing to explain, so if you have any questions about this just ask me, but I think it is pretty clear from the picture how it works.


EDIT: OH one interesting thing I found out was that if the magnet is directly in front of the middle of the switch (where you would logically thing it should go) the magnet needs to be very close, but if the magnet is 3/4s to one side it switches on easier and doesnt need to be as close!


After the switch was fitted I hooked it up to the multimeter, and it switches on at low speeds, but at high speeds it doesnt appear to be switching, so I will add some more magnets so the switch is turned on for longer on each revolution.

The next very important job is to make something that will turn 9vdc into 5vdc. If anyone has a schematic on how to do this, or maybe a link to an electronic module that does this please let me know!

cheers, Jason.

[bug music]

Nice work !! I assume you need 5V for the counter electronics. You could make a voltage divider with a couple of resistors, or use one of these :
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

Hopefully this helps.

- Jay

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by bug music

Nice work !! I assume you need 5V for the counter electronics. You could make a voltage divider with a couple of resistors, or use one of these :
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

Hopefully this helps.

- Jay

Ah thanks! a voltage regualtor...thats exactly what I need. And such a speedy reply! thanks again. I will have one of those ordered tonight and then I should be done by next week.

I think I would need to use this circuit?...http://stuff.nekhbet.ro/2006/06/18/h...8l05-7805.html

[guitarbuilder]

I'm not a tech, but this may or may not help.

http://www.elecfree.com/electronic/g...y-with-ic-555/

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

I'm not a tech, but this may or may not help.

http://www.elecfree.com/electronic/g...y-with-ic-555/

thanks you very much for your help. I came across that the other day in one of my google searches, but I wasnt too sure about it as it said it produces -5v and the instruction manual that came with the counter doesnt mention any polarity. Maybe someone with experience in electronics could shed some light on this diagram and how to wire it?

[bug music]

If you are already using a regulated 9V DC supply for the motor you don't even need the other components. The one I linked to is a +5V regulator so just hook your +9V on the input leg, hook the ground leg to the 0V side of the 9V supply, and you will get +5V on the output leg. the current draw should be low enough that you won't have to worry about putting a heat sink on it. You should be good to go. Hopefully this helps.

- Jay

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by bug music

If you are already using a regulated 9V DC supply for the motor you don't even need the other components. The one I linked to is a +5V regulator so just hook your +9V on the input leg, hook the ground leg to the 0V side of the 9V supply, and you will get +5V on the output leg. the current draw should be low enough that you won't have to worry about putting a heat sink on it. You should be good to go. Hopefully this helps.

- Jay

OK thanks it helps a lot. That all sounds simple enough, and I am using an AC/DC adapter which is regulated so with any luck all should be ok!

thanks again guys!


Now that stuff is all ordered, I have started on wiring the whole thing. I will post a wiring diagram once I have finished the whole thing as the one I am using keeps changing as things are moved and changed. motor is all wired in, and seems to be working fine. As I said in a previous post I will begin on the thing to hold the bobbin. I have seen bobbins held on with double-sided tape, but this never looks strong enough. So I will first test with tape (while wearing goggles) and if this doesnt work, then I will build something like this:


either way the main part on the end of the shaft will be the same.

[JasonRobert]

Ive just made the first version of the bobbin holder thing. It is slightly crude, but does the job and is balanced. Basically it is made from two identical pieces of acrylic 5" x 1 1/2". One piece has a 10mm hole to fix to the shaft, and both have two 4mm holes for bolts. They are spaced with the ends of some leffe beer bottle corks. The spindle is spaced with car wheel valve stem ends (the bit that breaks off when you pull a valve out), this is only because I dont have any 10mm washers. I will be buying some washers tomorrow.

[Nick JD]

Wicked. Enjoying this.

[BadHorsie]

Great job. I only offer one suggestion. I would use a wood block or fabricate a metal bracket to hold the shaft bearing. That plastic will break under load sooner or later. From what I seen here you are more than capable to fabricate a metal bracket to hold that bearing properly. You should be able to find something around your house to fabricate from. Awesome job. I will be watching this thread with great anticipation as I am collecting the parts to build a winder too.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by BadHorsie

Great job. I only offer one suggestion. I would use a wood block or fabricate a metal bracket to hold the shaft bearing. That plastic will break under load sooner or later. From what I seen here you are more than capable to fabricate a metal bracket to hold that bearing properly. You should be able to find something around your house to fabricate from. Awesome job. I will be watching this thread with great anticipation as I am collecting the parts to build a winder too.

Thanks for your suggestion, and I actually agree. I said before that there is no stress on this, but when the bobbin and everything is on the end, there will be some sort of load pulliung down on it. The acrylic is very unpredictable and does snap at a a seemingly random time, so I will buy some angled aluminium today, and bash it about a bit. As I said before the details are basically being made up as I go along, so I expect things to not work.

By making another bracket I will be sort of going back a step, but it saves me from making it again, as well as wasting a pickup I will be winding when the plastic breaks!


EDIT: I will also make a point about the magnet and switch. The counter only needs a slight break in the switch for it to count one more on, so if I have more magnets, the switch will be on longer, and will be able to work better at higher speeds. I will first try half magnet and half not magnet on the wheel and go from there.

[JasonRobert]

First major problem:

I wired the whole thing up, and found that it is running really slowly, and stops as soon as the shaft is touched. Obvious reason: not enough torque. So I will have to buy another 9v motor, but with either more torque, or a gearbox to get more torque.

I believe it needs a lot more torque, and I dont want it to run at 10rpm, so the obvious solution to this problem is to basically get a bigger motor. Now, coming from a background in cars, and growing up fiddling around with fan motors I immediatly think to buy a fan motor. although it runs at 12v i have run them on a 9v battery (like in stompboxes), and I have used one in the past to run a small go kart; so lots of torque. and those things arent slow at all due to being a fan motor.

BUT if anyone has any other ideas on a low cost motor that has plenty of torque and is fairly fast and is low voltage then let me know.


Now i say the obvious reasons and solutions, but there may be some more complicated reasons for this, so I will investigate further.

[BadHorsie]

Find a used sewing machine in a second hand shop. Be sure that if has the foot pedal with it or order a sewing machine replacement motor off of evilbay. You can plug it in the mains and not worry about powering it. This is what has been used in most of the builds that I have seen around the net.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by BadHorsie

Find a used sewing machine in a second hand shop. Be sure that if has the foot pedal with it or order a sewing machine replacement motor off of evilbay. You can plug it in the mains and not worry about powering it. This is what has been used in most of the builds that I have seen around the net.

I may be wrong, but I am sure sewing machine motors cannot be reversed?

[spankdplank]

If you flip the bobbin over on the winder, would it not wind in the opposite direction, so you wouldn't need a motor you could reverse?

Great thread, by the way.

[BadHorsie]

spankedplank beat me to it. I think he is right. Someone will chime in quickly to verify this.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by spankdplank

If you flip the bobbin over on the winder, would it not wind in the opposite direction, so you wouldn't need a motor you could reverse?

Great thread, by the way.

that would would be ok for tele pickups and humbuckers, but I wouldnt be able to wind strat pickups if they have staggered polepieces. I have got a heater blower motor in my shed somewhere, I will hook that up to the power later and see what happens. I know for sure it has a lot of torque, but I dont know about the speed when run at 9v, and most probably a lower amperage.

[JasonRobert]

just found this webpage http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~alanb/lathe.html. It is a lathe and has a windscreen wiper motor. The wiper motors come as one piece and I believe have a worm gear to slow the speed right down. The motor usually just unbolts. they are around 10 quid inc postage on ebay and I would need a 12v power supply. I will basically use the same sort of transformer and wiper motor, as that lathe isnt too dissimilar to a winder.

I am also considering a sewing machine motor, but this would need a complete redesign and will most probably end up in completly starting again.

For what ever motor I get I will mount it to the side and have a pulley system to transfer the rotation to the main shaft. I will have a big wheel on the shaft and a small wheel on the motor.

[BadHorsie]

With the sewing machine motor you would have to run the shaft out of both ends of the box. and have mounting plates on each end. This way you get clockwise on one side and counterclockwise on the other. Your present design could be adapted fairly well. remove the motor mounting pedestal. Mount the new motor flush on the bottom. Drill a whole on the other side that is parallel with the first whole. use a shaft all the way through with a pulley on it. Use a small belt to connect the pulley on the shaft to one on the motor. Are you dead set on running it on 9 volts . I think if you open your search up to motors that run off of mains power you will find there is a wide variety of motors to be had for cheap and that are reversible. You would not have to use a dc transformer either.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by BadHorsie

With the sewing machine motor you would have to run the shaft out of both ends of the box. and have mounting plates on each end. This way you get clockwise on one side and counterclockwise on the other. Your present design could be adapted fairly well. remove the motor mounting pedestal. Mount the new motor flush on the bottom. Drill a whole on the other side that is parallel with the first whole. use a shaft all the way through with a pulley on it. Use a small belt to connect the pulley on the shaft to one on the motor. Are you dead set on running it on 9 volts . I think if you open your search up to motors that run off of mains power you will find there is a wide variety of motors to be had for cheap and that are reversible. You would not have to use a dc transformer either.

The reason I would prefer to work with low voltages is that I am not confident with the 240v mains power.

although if the sewing machine motor is just a case of wiring live, neural and earth straight to the motor and into a plug then I would be ok with that. Apart from wiring plugs I have no experience with the mains AC 240V which is why I would only be capable of wiring something directly to a plug, and even then I would not be confident I did it right.

I like your idea with the pulley and the shaft coming out both sides, which would solve the problem of having a revsing motor. this is the drawing I did earlier in the build which is similar to what you decribe:




So basically there are two very different routes this can go down:

Replacing the motor with a more powerful and larger 12v motor with the motor connected to the shaft with a pulley.
Advantages:
- I would be more confident with working with the low voltage, and I have more experience with it.

Disadvantages
- Still the risk of the motor I use not being powerful enough, or not fast enough
- more parts = more problems

Replacing the motor with a 240v ac sewing machine motor with the motor connected to the shaft with a pulley.
Advantages:
- Would definatley work and most probably better than the DC motor
- less complicated ciruits would be needed, and the


Disadvantages
- and would mean more parts would not be used (variable speed regulator, Original DC motor, transformer and socket)

So looking at everything overall, in my opinion it is pretty evenly matched. both ways have their own problems from adapting what I have now.

I will also say from this post onwards I am not working on the V1 pickup winder, it is now
V1.1 pickup winder

I am completly stuck because I would still prefer to use a DC low(ish) voltage motor, the reasons for using an AC motor are very good. any more opinions on this to try to help me decide?