the Spartan pickup-winding machine

Classic Spartan sewing machine from 1959, gets second job as a pickup winder.  Purrs along just like a Merlin V-12 (which they always say, runs like a sewing machine).



Here's the "cruise control".

So at slightly over 2 RPM, 2000 windings would take almost 17 hours.  Except that I dare not leave it running non-stop, as the control pedal gets way too hot and makes scary smells.  So I'm running it at about a 50% duty-cycle, 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off.  So, this could take several days.  Or, maybe my speed control that I ordered will arrive before this is done...


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Slow and steady wins this race.  Even with a solid-state motor speed controller, I was unable to get the Spartan sewing machine to run slowly enough, in a reliable manner, and it kept breaking wires.  Not enough torque to overcome its own inconsistent friction, at such low power settings. So, I built this stepper motor based winder.  555 oscillator drives A4988 stepper driver, running in 1/16 microstepping mode (i.e., the slowest, smoothest mode).  I built the "circuit board" from a piece of acrylic plexiglass, with holes drilled for the through-hole components (555, A4988, and 7805 regulator), and passive components wired point-to-point underneath.  I'm proud to say, it worked at first power-up, which is not always the case! I have not yet built the spindle to attach to the shaft and hold the pickup bobbin; so far, I've just been testing the raw motor unit to make sure it can run for hours at a consistent slow speed, which it seems to do fine.  The one pro...
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