Home-made yarn winder (Now with more pictures)

[gadgetgirl]

Hey your Lego winder got Boing Boinged! check it out

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/10/21/lego_robot_winds_yar.html
-gg

[Andrea Shuman]

I want to give your boyfriend and you a huge compliment on how clever his idea is to build something functional like a "Yarn Ball Winder" from Legos! Even grownups like playing with toys, do they?
Believe it or not, a former co-worker of mine located a Candy Store that made Lego Candy!  You can actually build stuff with these legos before you decide to eat them.
Where did your boyfriend purchase the legos he used to build your yarn winder? Where did he get gears to make it turn, the extended arm to maintain the tension and motor?
I read another message telling us that these particular legos are tough to find.  Tell him to keep up his clever creations.

Andrea Shuman

[lepoulet]

I made one of these based on the pictures, and...oh, look! I'm still female! I will be posting a full tutorial on my website in a few days.

[hfs3]

Hi!  I work at LEGO in Enfield, CT and my wife is an avid knitter (a member here, too!).  I want to build a winder for her, and while the pictures of the winder are great, I think I need more detail on the build to accomplish that.  Do you have a parts list, by any chance?  Let me know, ok?

Thanks,
Henry

[edburdo]

I have a winder almost complete.  I'll post the full directions shortly.

I do have one question though...  should the spindle the ball of yarn is on rotate while the turntable is rotating?

So... the turntable rotates around, causing the ~45 degree arm to turn.  Should the spindle on the arm turn as well?

Also, do you rotate the turntable clockwise or counter-clockwise?  Or does it matter?

[empress_deva]

This idea is freaken awesome!!  I have a little cousin who would absolutely love to build this for me.  WOOHOO!!!

[Shallelerilla]

Now my boy seems so useless.  That's awesome.

[IngenueGrrl]

Just a quick thought. Why would you want to spend all that money on a lego set when you can buy cheap plastic gears, a 1.99 motor at a hobby shop, some batteries and wooden dowels? I looked that lego thing up and just like someone else mentioned it's about 200$. I made my own after looking for a less expensive way than this. Oh, and your photos are showing up, btw.

[redwitch]

If you already had Lego why not use it if you enjoy it and think it is worth the time?
Or why not spend the $8 and buy one?
Everyone will go with the option they prefer which varies (I really like the idea of a winder being battery-powered though instead of me-powered, although I love winding my balls!)

[JaneAvril]

OMG I just finished my own erector set model.  It's still in design stages, but I may be forced to pilfer from your design.  How cool!!

I'll get some pics up in a bit.