Saturday, May 12, 2007

Dream Skein Winder v. 1.0

Here is the first version of the motorized skein winder I built. The picture was taken in haste and it shows but you can see the basics. The sewing machine motor is attached at the bottom left and I placed the foot pedal in front, backwards. The next picture will be a little better. I wanted to get this posted today.
This is the first version because there are "design issues" that need to be resolved. I wanted it portable and light weight which is one of the reasons I built it using PVC. It actually works pretty well except for two problems. The PVC uprights are just too flexible when the skein winder spins. I also need to get a good drive belt to turn the skein winder. As built now, I could turn it by hand and make six skeins at once. I do need to build a cone holder with a yarn guide. I am hoping to get to that tomorrow.
The pipe section at the top with the little nubs are T-fittings to attach the beginning and end of the yarn skein to. If needed, I can insert short sections of pipe to hold the yarn and pop them out to remove the skein. Speaking of removing the skeins, the end of the skein winder is not glued so that it can be popped off and the skeins can be slid off. Since the pipe is flexible it will slightly collapse to allow the skeins to come off.
So, the improvements I will need to make is to make the side supports out of a more ridged material. Back to the drawing board so to speak!
Failures, or near failures are important learning opportunities.
How have you learned from your past "failures"?
-Renee, who lives in a world of "learning opportunities!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Renee, you are amazing! I am so glad you decided to blog about your project and I can hardly wait to see what you make. The skein winder looks like a real time saver so I hope you will get it purring along soon. Congratulations, I will be checking daily.