Yarn Baller Retrofit

Required Materials:

https://www.michaels.com/product/loops-threads-yarn-winder-10322830

https://a.co/d/15jvrSB

https://a.co/d/dZK3izF style 2

https://a.co/d/5xp7mbh 12v 60 RPM

6x M3x6 Bolts

4x M3x4 Bolts

Spare wire for low voltage

Cable sleeving Optional

Soldering Iron

Heat shrink

hand full of small zip ties

Hot Glue gun

Printed parts

I preferred to Print in PETG for everything, although the only thing that really should be is the motor shaft. 

My fiance is an avid crocheter and was constantly trying to ball her yar with this little crank winder and swearing at it because it took too long and was a lot of effort. I kept joking about how I could attach a motor to it and make it automatic. After shopping around for a motorized yarn baller and finding them to be priced kinda crazily, I set out to actually attach a motor to the side of her yarn baller. 

You will have to almost completely disassemble the baller to get at the parts you need. 

1. remove the retaining ring and washer from the rotating spindle
2. then remove the spindle
3. remove 3 screws, 2 by the handle and one on the bottom
4. remove retaining ring from the white gear
5. pull the metal assembly out of the case and set aside
6. remove the retaining ring from the handle and set aside for future project

You should now be left with the black piece of plastic, the metal frame and mechanism, and the tan plastic piece. 

To assemble the project, 

Attach the barrel connector to the motor controller board using the “in” side of the connector. Remove the switch connector from the controller board. Slide the board into place and use the 4x M3x4 bolts to secure it to the box. then slide the switch connector through the top hole, plug it into the controller and then firmly push the switch into place. 

Take a length of wire and attach it to the “Out” side of the board. Route this through the remaining hole in the board case. At this point I used some black cable sheathing I had laying around to dress it up. After that is attached and through the hole, I used a zip tie to tighten down the cable and the power connector to the case. The zip tie goes down over and back up into the case and then tightened. 

slide the cable into the Motor Case. slide some Heat shrink onto the wires. Using a soldering iron, attach one wire to each terminal on the motor. Apply heat to the heat shrink.

Now would be a good time to check that you have wired everything correctly and that the motor works and turns on. 

If all is well, proceed on. If not, then double check connections and make sure everything is nice and tight. 

If your motor turned time to close up electronics box and slide the case onto the back of the motor. I used liberal amounts of hot glue on all connections in the box, this also helps the power connector from being pushed into the box. I also put some hot glue on the edge of the box and put the lid on. I then put a small bead of hot glue around the motor and pushed the case into place. This can be a tight fit.

At this point, remove the two screws on the front of the motor. Then remove face plate. Next remove the two screws on the back of the face plate and slide the gear out of the face plate. I used a harbor freight punch set and a vise to knock the old motor shaft out of the gear. I closed the vise just big enough that the gear can rest on top and the shaft dangles below. a small hammer hit knocks it right out. You could probably also use a screwdriver. 

Use a drill bit as big as the motor face plate extrusion. or a smaller one and wiggle the bit until it's wide enough. Basically the entire black plastic extrusion needs to be gone. Then place the motor faceplate so it is flush against the black plastic. I then used a small punch to mark where I need to drill the mounting holes for the motor. Then using an appropriate sized bit, drilled the holes for the bolts. 

Next push the motor shaft into the face plate, this will be a tight fit so use some force. Hammer not recommended as you might break you shaft. Once that is through, force the gear onto the motor shaft as well. replace the metal bar and two screws on the back of the face plate. Then return the face plate to the motor and screw in place with it's original screws. 

Next Screw the motor to the black plastic piece using the 6x M3x6mm bolts. 

Reassemble the rest of the ball winder in opposite steps. I used Hot glue to help keep the white gear from moving off the motor shaft. You could put a retaining ring back on. I lost mine so hot glue it is. :D

Then test wind a ball of yarn. 

Happy crocheting.