Tom:
I made my first string winding machine using a 1725 rpm 1 hp motor,
pulleys, belts, round bar of steel (longer than the longest string you
want to make), chucks (to hold ends), long thick board to bolt it to,
and lots of engineering imagination. Cost may run $100 to $300
depending on sources for motors (new/used).
My second string machine was made by Irv Spaulding (now deceased)
who was an inventive and creative machinist who devised many of the
tools I use in my shop. We worked together on the machine, me
describing what I needed and wanted it to do, we discussing various
possibilities, he planning and building it. Not inexpensive, but it is
the backbone of my ability to make strings. Cost was (now would be more
of course) approximately $2500.
The Folk Harp Journal has drawings and plans on how to build one
(Issue #41, June 1983, p. 33; and Issue #46, Sept. 1984, p.49). Back
issue Folk Harp Journals are available for sale from Sylvia Fellows,
4718 Maychelle Drive, Anaheim, CA 92807-3040 phone: (714) 998-5717.
The large companies who produce strings have them computerized and
semi-automatic. One person operates two machines, sitting between them,
putting string core on machine, setting winding material, starting
machine; then moves to second machine and does the same; then back to
the first, removes completed string and resets next; etc., etc. Of
course they make multiple strings of one kind at a time. These
machines cost big bucks, in tens of thousands. Occasionally the
companies sell old machines (still workable).
Good luck, Tom.
Betty Truitt, Dragonwhispers, P.O. Box 211, Mt. Laguna, CA 91948