My $40 pickup winder

$40 pickup winder

  Here is a look at my shop made pickup winding machine.  Aside from some shop scraps the material list to make it was rather short.  I purchased a digital counter off the internet for less than $10 and the bulk of the machine is a modified VSR drill from harbor freight. There are a few small screw eyes, a small piece of 3/16” aluminum rod and some fasteners and that is about it……

  The handle of the drill was cut off and the wiring to the switches lengthened so that they could be re used. The body of the drill is mounted in a part of an old tool that was lying around the shop a long time. This is the one part you would need to fabricate out of wood or source somewhere. A control panel was fabricated to mount the switches. The trigger switch is mounted partially through the panel and intersects with a dado in the panel.  A piece of wood is fitted to the dado with a taper at the end that will engage the trigger. This is then connected to a lever via a small dowel. Moving the lever to the right will engage the switch and start the machine. The farther right you move the lever the faster it will run. This works very well for obtaining a soft start so as not to break the fragile wire.

The counter is mounted on the base and connects to the winding head via a spring and short cable. I have different heads to accommodate different pick up sizes and designs. The machine is currently being used to rewind a bass pickup. You can also see how the aluminum rod is bent at a 90 and set into the base to from a wire guide. Right behind it is a tensioner made from the wire clamp that was inside the drill handle and  two pieces of thin cork. Proper and consistent tension when winding is critical to get good working and sounding pickups.

Here is a close up of the limiters on the wire guide rod. Nothing fancy, just two small blocks of maple with a nut super glued into them and a set screw to lock them in place.

To wind a pickup the wire is started around the bobbin and the end taped back out of the way so it doesn’t get caught and lost in the windings. This is the start side of the coil. The first few wraps must be done turning the machine by hand until there is enough wire to grip the bobbin. I also set and verify the positioning of my travel limiters at this time to set the edges of the winding just inside the faces of the bobbin.

Once tis is done we are set to wind. Make sure the directional switch is set to wind the correct direction and slowly bring the machine up to the desired winding speed. I use a round shank screwdriver under the guide bar to push the wire back and forth between the limiting blocks to lay down even layers of wire. Once the counter gets close to the number of turns I need I slow the machine down and stop it at the desired number. And that’s it……Takes but a few minutes to wind a coil. Now to solder the leads and I can pot or reassemble as needed.

Hope you find this helpful and as always I am here for whatever you may need.

 Thanks.