After spending several hours on Saturday and only getting 5 inches onto the warping board of Aunt Lydia’s no. 10 threads, I decided I had to get round balls from squared balls – What I needed was a bobbin winder.

It only took 45 minutes to convert the balls to tangle-free easy-store bobbins. Just remove the cardboard tube from the center of crochet thread balls by squishing it down and locate the center-pull string (on the squared balls).

Using parts from my very first sewing machine and some scrap wood, I made an electric bobbin winder. It was really – really easy to make. Give it a try! You’ll be delighted with it! Here’s a video of it being used for the first time – Thanks to my slobo!

After getting much faster on the second bobbin, a leather glove was necessary to prevent finger burn from the thread. I borrowed our 8 yr. old’s leather workman glove.

For the end of the prong, I just used the pulley from the motor. It has a tiny set screw that you can use to position it along the shaft. Something similar for the other end would work too. Another rubber stopper would work just as well.

If you want one that you can use any size/type bobbin in, I imagine the ends of plumb bobs with a sliding bookend dealie-thing-a-ma-bob would work well too, The bore shaft will fit a McDonald’s drinking straw too, if you want to make your own bobbins with cardboard disks.

I did need to put a layer of masking tape on the shaft end of the motor, to fit the bore’s female end on more snugly center. I’m talking one or two wraps with the masking tape tho.

For the curious, I just have it clamped to my drawing board. Rubber banded to the drawing board behind it is the string heddle jig so I could prop up in bed watching old movies while I tied 300 heddle strings. The shaft is a bit off-center because I did not take the time to find exact center on my rubber stopper. Finding center is a good thing.

Addendum: Added pictures of the parts 07/01/2010 – Oops!
You can click on the picture below for a larger view.

I parted out an old singer sewing machine I had and used the motor (left the motor bracket mount, light, and male adapter wiring on it). I used a piece of 3/4″ thick pine scrap for the base (about 8 x 12 inches or so?), added a couple of blocks (a 2×4 and 3/4″ thick scrap) at the end where I wanted to mount the motor. Put a piece of scrap natural rubber (just had it on hand) under the motor for vibration control, then mounted the motor bracket – just screwing into the block assemblage I had previously screwed the base piece of 3/4″ thick pine. Screwing on the bracket that held the light as well to the other side of the motor on the same block.

The key was finding the Irwin bore extension. I purchased mine at Home Depot. I don’t remember now what it cost, but it was really cheap, I’m thinking abt. 10-15$? Okay – watched my own video and it was 9$ for the bore and 2$ for the rubber stopper. lol It is for installing on your drill, only it is put on backwards here.

The sewing machine has a small pulley on the end of the extension shaft on the original sewing motor assembly. It is attached via a flat head set screw. I took that pulley off, wrapped two wraps of masking tape to increase the diameter of the original pulley shaft a hair, and put the female end of the bore extension on the motor shaft. The bore attaches with two set screws, however only the first set screw is able to be set on the original motor shaft. The other is just shy of meeting the end of the shaft, however, that one set screw has held up with no problems.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the bore, I used the original motor pulley to hold my cardboard tubes on when it gets spinning. The tubes are just 1/2 of a pants hangar (you know, the post-it sticky type that hold your dress slacks. I like the tacky as it gets the thread started, turning nicely.).

The cardboard tubes I use don’t fill the entire bore shaft from end-to-end, so I put a rubber stopper at the far end to keep it snug horizontally. The rubber stopper has a drilled hole in the center (well almost center), but you may be able to find a stopper with the hole already in it (sci-lab equipment suppliers would have these). Heck, even silly putty would work – anything to keep things on an even keel without flying off the end.

The rubber stopper doesn’t slide easily on the shaft, hence the reason I use the pulley at the other end. This setup just requires keeping a screwdriver handy to undo the set screw when I change tubes. I just use a small rubber band on the base to keep it handy when I need it.

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With visions of a mini-lathe and electric spinning fly wheels – I leave you with confidence that if I can pull this off – so can you!

Want to see more Slobo videos?
Here is one of my favorite Slobo videos of a day we spent in the mountains with the kids – puddle jumping.