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Overview

Winder is a BLDC motor winding machine software designed to automate the winding process of brushless DC motors. It uses Aotenjo One and Aotenjo Master to control the motors, providing smooth and precise motion control.

Why I Started This Project​

This project began when one of my expensive gimbal motors failed due to a wire break. Rather than rewinding it by hand, I built a winding machine to automate the repair. That small fix turned into a bigger mission—addressing the shortage of high-quality gimbal motors by producing and selling my own.

Gimbal motors are great for robotics projects. They are smooth, precise, and powerful at low speeds.

However, they are expensive and not easy to find. While there are many drone motors available due to the popularity of drones, they are not suitable for robotics projects because they are designed for high RPM and low torque at low speeds.

The key difference lies in the winding configuration and wire diameter. So if we can re-wind drone motors properly, we can convert them into gimbal motors — unlocking new possibilities without the high price tag.

That’s exactly what this machine was built to do: repurpose drone motors into custom gimbal motors and help fill the gap in the robotics market with affordable, high-performance alternatives.

I built a motor winding machine!

For a deeper dive into what drove this initiative, check out my post: Lack of Gimbal Motors.

Why Winder?​

Winder automates the winding process, ensuring consistent quality and reducing manual labor.

Winder is ideal for:

  • Prototyping new motor designs
  • Small-batch production of custom motors
  • Repairing broken motors

One YouTuber Aaed Musa attempted to build a custom robotic actuator in the video below.

I Built an Internal Cycloidal Robotic Actuator

As you can see from the video at 4:40, winding motors by hand takes a lot of time and effort.

Supported Motors​

Hardware Compatibility​

Currently Winder hardware is designed to support only BE4108 motors.

If you wind other types of motors, you may need to modify the highlighted parts in the image below.

We plan to support Eaglepower LA8308 BLDC Motors in the future.

Software Compatibility​

Winder software supports only 24n22p motors (24 stator slots, 22 magnets).

We plan to support the following motor configurations in the future:

  • 12n14p(Commonly used in mid to small drones)
  • 36n40p(Eaglepower LA8308)

FAQs​

Why not use Stepper Motors?​

Steppers could be used for a winding machine. We use BLDC motors just because we build them. The hidden reason is that we want to demonstrate the capability of our products through this project.

Why you don't open source the hardware design files?​

The blog post Why Open Source Hardware is Hard explains the reason.