A Minimalist Winder
Who has time to wind their spools by hand? Here's a design for a simple tool to securely and safely wind up your spools with a drill or driver.
About the Windr
The minimalist windr models are simply a set of locking discs which secure and empty spool onto a drive shaft. That assembly can then be chucked into a drill or impact driver and used to wind up the ribbon under power, instead of laboriously rotating it all 18 yards. All of the Minimalist and Pocket Windr models will have a central screw with a round socket head, which allows for use with an impact driver. Currently these are simply an M4 x 40mm screw, should you need to replace or alter it.
Aside from the main post, you will find three primary discs, these are the backer, at least one circular spacer, and an embedded nut which serves as a thumbscrew. At the very heart of the the mechanism, only the main post and the thumbscrew are truly necessary, however the backer and spacer will protect your spools and provide a more centered feed. This protection is particularly handy on metal or painted spools!
Assembly
In order to assemble your winder, first place the backer onto the center post and spin it down all the way. Congratulations, assembly is now complete. To begin using the tool, first place an empty spool onto the center post and then slide on the spacer. Lastly, use the thumbscrew to tighten the spool to the backer. For easier tightening, face the proud side of the nut towards the spacer so there is a gap between the thumbscrew and the spacer.
Now that your drive spool is prepared, first check it for concentricity, as some spools may have protrusions that may unbalance the tool while in the drill. Consider adding some folded paper or other shimming material such as felt if needed. Next, loosen the chuck on your drill and feed the remaining threaded portion of the shaft into the chuck. There is not a need to tighten the jaws too far as there will be very little force applied on them, so no need to go overboard here!
With the drive spool now chucked you have the advantage of the whole assembly being fixed in space, giving you an artificial third hand to attach the ribbon to your spool. From here you can hook, knot, skewer, or otherwise affix your ribbon to the spool. Check the direction of rotation to ensure that your drill will rotate the spool in the desired direction, based on how the ribbon has been attached to the spool.
Lastly, your feeding assembly. If you are feeding from another spool, a toothpick, skewer, thin paintbrush, or other round object is ideal to loosely hold the spool with the ribbon. If you are feeding from a large reel, holding it underhand and feeding off the top can be easiest. Before picking everything up and starting to wind the ribbon, consider locating any scissors or other tools you'll need, especially if you aren't wearing gloves!
When finished, loosen the chuck, remove the thumbscrew and spacer, then take off the loaded spool. If you are using a Pocket-Windr you can return the parts to the carrying case.
Using an Impact Driver
You may have noticed that the kits also come with additional nuts. While most of us are likely to have a household drill, some may find it convenient to use an impact driver instead. If this is all you have handy or if you simply prefer to use one, you can use this additional hardware to reverse the setup and drive the whole assembly with this other tool using a 7mm socket.
To use a driver, begin installation with one of the spare nuts, then install the backer plate as usual. The empty spool, spacer, and thumbscrew are all installed the same way. In order to use this alternate setup, instead of attaching from the threaded end, you place the head of the screw and the nut into the socket. You may find that it's helpful to lean the whole assembly back a little so that it rests into the socket instead of trying to fall out. If the socket you are using is deep enough, you may use two of the nuts to get a more secure mounting assembly.
Protecting the Spools
These winders come equipped with spacers, which can be placed between the nut and spool to protect the finish on painted or metal spools. If you are using a plastic one, you can choose to do without these, however they do add a small about of concentricity to the assembly which can help keep the ribbon on track. If you're particularly concerned about protecting your spools, you can add a bit of felt to one side - I have some adhesive backed stuff that works great for cases like this.
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