Meccano Orthocyclic Coil Winding Machine

[@PixelSchnitzel]

This is pure mechanical genius

[@Meccanokinematics]

I was impressed by this machine as well. A few simple modifications could be made to improve it's performance.

[@PixelSchnitzel]

@@Meccanokinematics Yes. The fact that it works today, 39 years later, is a testament to A) quality design and construction (despite the limitations of Meccano) and B) there are people who still appreciate its value. Very few one-off creations stand the test of time. I hope this ends up in a museum some day and is valued for generations, along with the memory of its creator.

[@timjarrett2761]

That has to be the best use of a Meccano model I've ever seen! Very cool.

[@bertspeggly4428]

Excellent!

[@campbellmorrison8540]

That is a very nice unit. I'm tempted to make one but its obviously a lot of work and I really only have one coil type I need to do and only a few required. Its out of a Smiths synchronous clock motor and it has 15,750 turns of 0.06mm wire, this unit would be perfect for the job so I might try a cut down version without the versatility of yours. Thank you for posting

[@hinz1]

But how is the orthocyclic stepover done? This is more like a helical winding machine, where the wire step makes it somehow wind in a orthocyclic type. This machine has no kickover on short distance, so winding is mostly parallel with short crossover. Good for thick wire with supervision, to stop, as soon as it becomes wild winding, but not so good machine for real thin, fine wire and many turns, without supervision, which becomes chaotic very easily.

[@Meccanokinematics]

You are correct. If you follow the 1961 Philips Technical Review this type of coilwinding is strictly not orthocyclic. All your other remarks are correct as well. Nevertheless, in this case the wire is winded in a strict parallel fassion, it certainly isn't a wild winding. With 0.2mm thichness it's not by far the thinnest wire, but the result is pretty remarkable. On following weblink you can see an example of a Philips orthocyclic coilwinding device meccanokinematics.net/fac/models/21-next-generation-orthocyclic-coilwinding-machine/ Unfortunately there is no demo of this device and the exact workings when it comes to the short crossover winding remains unclear.