Printable Wool Winder - MK I

youmagine

This printable wool winder generates center-pull balls from raw hanks of yarn, and it's designed for use with a yarn swift - I'll be working on a printable swift soon. I created this winder for my mom who was struggling with her current ball winder. A new equivalent winder would have cost around $50, but I thought I could design and build a better one using just a few dollars' worth of parts (most of which I already had) and some plastic. Plus, knowing how it works means I can fix it if something goes wrong. The winder's function is pretty straightforward yet entertaining to watch. The hand crank turns the center carriage mechanism around a stationary cone. As the carriage moves with the cone remaining still, the winding spindle rotates about its own axis. For every nine turns of the hand crank, the winding spindle makes one full rotation. The dual spinning motion creates a cylinder shape for the yarn. To see the winder in action, check out this video. You can also download the Creo design files from the master file zip.