Kite line winder Created by AndrewWR — A carbon fibre line winder for a grown-up stunt kite. This is an accessory for my other currect project: A kite travel case built out of a 100mm OD carbon tube (Like those poster tubes. but more elegant). Anyway, since the kites are all carbon fibre framed, I figured why not? Designwise, I've gone for curvy but not over-fussy. Kite winders with inconveniently placed line notches that grab any passing bit of string are the bane of my life.
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Kite line winder

By AndrewWR|BY-NC-SA 4.0 License|Updated July 12th, 2023

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A carbon fibre line winder for a grown-up stunt kite. This is an accessory for my other currect project: A kite travel case built out of a 100mm OD carbon tube (Like those poster tubes. but more elegant). Anyway, since the kites are all carbon fibre framed, I figured why not? Designwise, I've gone for curvy but not over-fussy. Kite winders with inconveniently placed line notches that grab any passing bit of string are the bane of my life.

30 min

Easy

2

Files included (2)
NameSize
line winder back.svg
3 kB
line winder.svg
3 kB

Carbon fiber twill plate (mine was 5mm matte) about 200mmx80mm. A Sam Brown stud (6mm head, 8mm flange)
Shaper Origin Workstation 3mm diameter, single flute, 6mm shank upcut bit 2.5mm radius, 4 flute, 6mm shank roundover bit
The only not-simple part of this build is the need to cut from both sides. Don't panic. Shaper can do it, if you go about it methodically and carefully. Step one: Stick down the carbon fibre securely and grid. I used top-top-left to grid because, as you can see in the piccies, I was using a larger piece of carbon than necessary and a foot of it was floating in mid air beyond the Workstation. Step two: Import the Line Winder SVG, anchor to the same corner you gridded from and position it 5mm in on each axis. (my actual settings were X=5 Y=-5) Step three: Chuck up a 3mm single flute cutter and make three passes at 0.9mm, taking us past halfway through. Step four: cut the recess for the Sam Brown stud to 1.2mm deep and bore the hole. NB the drawing say this is a 2mm hole but I just lied to shaper and cut it to 3mm because thats the bit that was in the chuck and the recess is doing the centring of the stud so the hole size is arbitrary. Step five: Chuck up the roundover bit. This one, as pictured, is a four flute carbide bit that cuts a 2.5mm radius, conveniently exactly the right size for 5mm material. Being a 6mm shank, the tip diameter is 1mm (6mm - 2.5mm - 2.5mm) so I lied to Shaper and told it the bit was 1mm diameter and set the depth of cut to 2.5mm. No probs doing the rounding over in a single pass. (look at the round-over close up if you don't believe me. Step six: Pry up the workpiece and turn it over. Clean any adhesive residue off the 'new' top surface and have a care for where you put the double sided tape this time because the workpiece is about to become three separate pieces and nobody wants bits of carbon fibre going ballistic. Just be sure all three pieces will be taped, OK? Step seven: grid again, but from the opposite corner (Physically the same corner but its on the other side of the workpiece now). For me this meant top-top-right. Step eight: Import THE OTHER SVG. It should be identical but any lack of symmetry will screw things up royally so I flipped the image and used one each side. Like before, anchor to the same corner you gridded and position 5 mm in on each axis (nmy actual settings were X=-5 Y=-5) Step nine: Chuck up a 3mm single flute cutter and make three passes at 0.9mm. If you taped it down properly, nothing is flying around right now. Step ten: Cut the Sam Brown screw recess to a depthe of 1.2 mm. Step Eleven:Chuck up the roundover bit as before (1mm radis, 2.5mm depth) and have at it. Step twelve: If you were careful with placement and gridding, admire the perfect edges with no 'steps' because Shaper Origin really is that precise. Step thirteen. fit the Sam Brown with a drop of thread lock because, if you don't, it will come loose and Murphy's law say that'll happen in long grass, notsome hard clean floor where you can hear it drop and see where it landed. NOTES ON WORKING WITH CARBON FIBRE Wear a mask. You do not want to be breathing the dust Shaper's gonna make. Vacuum your workpiece between each pass. The dust binds up in the cut. I found it handy to use a bit of wire to rake it loose as I vacuumed. Clean the base plate of your Shaper Origin when you're done. The carbon dust will cling to it. Don't run your cutter too fast. Heat will just fuse the dust, clogging your cut and your cutter. I found a little under 4 was perfectly acceptable speed.