Some things are more complicated than they appear at first glance. Take, for example, the metal strings of a musical instrument.

How are these made? Forum user jpk generously shared the results of the two years he spent building his own metal musical string winder.

To accomplish the project, jpk used a Teensy 3.5 to handle button input, display output, and calculations and a Teensy 3.6 that handles motor movements, both set into custom PCBs. The machine can also be used to spool wire. Jpk has made his source code for the project available on Github as well as a timing library and a debouncing library he developed for use with the project. Below is a photo of a completed wound wire that uses copper and aluminum to produce a string that is 0.7mm in diameter.