Advanced Coil Winding Machine

...or for free if you have an old CNC router or 3D printer lying around. You can often buy second hand CNC routers or 3D printers for less than $50. The CNC 3018 machine that I used was new, at $125.

This is work in progress...

I purchased a very cheap CNC 3018 router with a G-code programmable controller running "GRBL 1.1". This provides almost all the components you need to build a computer-controlled coil winding machine, able to wind perfect coils up to 35cm (14") long with a diameter of up to 20cm (8"). Using a belt-driven assembly you can wind coils of almost any size. I'm looking to wind Tesla coils on bits of plastic drainpipe, up to 1 meter long.

Coil-winding software which runs on Windows is under development (MuCoil.exe?). The software estimates the resistance and inductance of your coil, and calculates the number of turns needed for a specific inductance, according to the coil diameter, wire gauge and core material. Perfect for calculating the resonance of your L/C tank circuit (etc). After entering the coil dimensions, gauge of the wire and desired inductance, the winding procedure is controlled automatically with prompts from the Windows software to help you create perfect windings every time. (It's not like other CNC software, which gives you absolutely no help at all ;-)

Watch this space! Just one or two technical improvements to make...

The cheap router from Vevor, and its USB-connected controller running GRBL 1.1 ...

Coming soon: The Toroid Coil Winder, an innovative design based on the same components and software.

A Computer-controlled Precision Coil Winding Machine for less than $50