Cheap coil winder

[SimonMester]

So, would some like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272260176256?epid=1372418956&
be helpful to wind coils, or is it too cheap to be much of an improvement over doing it by hand?
I have iron cores 100mm by 11mm, would it even be able to wind copper nicely onto that "uneven" shape? As its not just a nice round thing.
Never used one of these so I'm just not sure what to expect. I'm using 0.6mm wire.

[Mary B]

It's designed for very fine wore like you find in a speaker coil... if you wind heavier than 18 gauge I think it will fail. 18 may even be to much for it...

[SimonMester]

It's designed for very fine wore like you find in a speaker coil... if you wind heavier than 18 gauge I think it will fail. 18 may even be to much for it...

Any tips for hand winding the wire? Not sure how to "straighten" it as it unwinds. As it has a natural 'bend' in it from being wound on the reel of course.
Wasting a lot of space, and pushing it around or trying to flatten it, the wire is too strong for that.
Suppose I could always just try to wind the next layer tightly over the one before it to squish it down as much as possible.

[electrondady1]

I made a coil winder from am old variable speed electric drill .
 Added a turn counter i bought separately.
 i keep a threaded rod in the chuck and build a coil jig on he threaded rod.
 its all set up on its own mahogany plank . and has the capability of turning single wire  or 3 in hand coils.
its a mechanical counter and if i built another i would use a magnetic turn counter rather than the noisy mechanical one .

[Mary B]

It's designed for very fine wore like you find in a speaker coil... if you wind heavier than 18 gauge I think it will fail. 18 may even be to much for it...

Any tips for hand winding the wire? Not sure how to "straighten" it as it unwinds. As it has a natural 'bend' in it from being wound on the reel of course.
Wasting a lot of space, and pushing it around or trying to flatten it, the wire is too strong for that.
Suppose I could always just try to wind the next layer tightly over the one before it to squish it down as much as possible.

You can do the math and get a rough idea of how much wire you will need. Cut that off the spool(add a little extra for oops I was wrong) then attach one end to something heavy, wrap the other end around a dowel then grab the dowel and pull. It will straighten the wire. Commercial winders do this via wheel pressure and if you watch a machine it has a straight section before the winder to remove any curve memory.

Yes the above wastes a little wire... can save that for jumpers between coils.

[SimonMester]

I made a coil winder from am old variable speed electric drill .
 Added a turn counter i bought separately.
 i keep a threaded rod in the chuck and build a coil jig on he threaded rod.
 its all set up on its own mahogany plank . and has the capability of turning single wire  or 3 in hand coils.
its a mechanical counter and if i built another i would use a magnetic turn counter rather than the noisy mechanical one .

I feel like I'd rather build a hand wound machine first. Maybe I'll give that a go. I just want to wind a couple simple coils, one by one, make sure they are straightened out so I can wind them nicely.

Do you know of any general outlines/schematics I could inspect? As I have never made one, would be nice to see.

[SimonMester]

It's designed for very fine wore like you find in a speaker coil... if you wind heavier than 18 gauge I think it will fail. 18 may even be to much for it...

Any tips for hand winding the wire? Not sure how to "straighten" it as it unwinds. As it has a natural 'bend' in it from being wound on the reel of course.
Wasting a lot of space, and pushing it around or trying to flatten it, the wire is too strong for that.
Suppose I could always just try to wind the next layer tightly over the one before it to squish it down as much as possible.

Thanks for the reply, it's given me some ideas. I might DIY some kind of wire straightener with wheels, and then just wind the coils with a crank after that section.
Also grats on 3k comments.

You can do the math and get a rough idea of how much wire you will need. Cut that off the spool(add a little extra for oops I was wrong) then attach one end to something heavy, wrap the other end around a dowel then grab the dowel and pull. It will straighten the wire. Commercial winders do this via wheel pressure and if you watch a machine it has a straight section before the winder to remove any curve memory.

Yes the above wastes a little wire... can save that for jumpers between coils.