Solid Steel Yarn Winder -- the most overkill yarn winder I could build

[Badabinski]

Over the past few months, I've been working on a present for my girlfriend. She does quite a bit of crochet and has always wanted a yarn winder. I wanted to get her one, but I wasn't happy with the plastic/wooden ones that were commercially available, so I decided to make her one.

I have a pretty in-depth blog post about the build process here: http://www.fos.tech/posts/the-solid-steel-yarn-winder/

I'll also post a couple of pictures and the main video here:

(This will be the only full-res picture posted out of deference to those with slower internet connections. The rest are thumbnails or have been reduced in size on my blog.)

 

[jbobb1]

Nice!
I'll have to let my daughter see this, because she's an avid knitter,

 

[macardoso]

Beautiful work! Looks like it might need a counterweight

 

[Badabinski]

Beautiful work! Looks like it might need a counterweight

That's definitely on the agenda! I'm trying to source some tungsten that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Copper might also work, but it would need to be a pretty large piece. The sorbothane washers and bumpers are doing okay for now, though.

EDIT: I've also considered getting a local machine shop that can do EDM to pop some holes in some tungsten carbide, since that stuff is also quite dense, and might actually be cheaper than pure tungsten.

 

[talvare]

Very nice ! But since I know absolutely nothing about crochet or knitting, what is the purpose of re-winding the yarn from the ball that it was already on ?
Ted

 

[Badabinski]

Very nice ! But since I know absolutely nothing about crochet or knitting, what is the purpose of re-winding the yarn from the ball that it was already on ?
Ted

The most common case is to divide a ball up into multiple smaller balls. That makes it a lot more manageable when you have a bunch of different colors you're working with. There's a few other use-cases in the blog post, but that's the main one my girlfriend will be using this for.

 

[Badabinski]

TIL about copper-tungsten. 75/25 copper-tungsten is still almost double the density of steel, while being about half the cost of regular tungsten. Picked up a 0.5"x0.75"x8" bar for $109, so I'll be able to get a counterweight on this thing.

 

[Cadillac STS]

She could put it in her will. It should last several lifetimes!

 

[hman]

Wowsers - what a fantastic piece of kit!

I have vague memories (10-20 years old) of a yarn winder that a friend of mine had. She would frequently buy yarn in large skeins - think of a 1 foot diameter donut of something like 1 or 2 inch minor diameter. Definitely in need of winding into manageable balls! The skein would be placed on an expanding-spoke spindle something like the bulk wire measurer/winder at Home Depot.

I also seem to recall that the yarn winder had a guide loop for the incoming yarn, so the strand would align with the center of the winding stem.

 

[Lo-Fi]

also seem to recall that the yarn winder had a guide loop for the incoming yarn, so the strand would align with the center of the winding stem.

I remember that of the one mum used to use. There was also a funky shape roller guide thing you could use that had notches cut in it, but my memory of that is somewhat vague.

Lovely work!