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Spinster

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zeeprogrammer:
A finger-treadle engine in the form of a spinning wheel.

My daughter spins wool and some time ago I thought it would be neat to make a model of one.
I haven't had much time in the shop but have done some drawings and a little experimentation in the time I do get.

It's a 1/5 scale model of a double-drive Castle style spinning wheel.

It won't spin fiber but I'd like it to be functional enough to spin two threads together to make 'yarn'.

Many of you know I started this some time ago. But I ran into a number of issues. The original was a model of a single-drive Saxony (or Cinderella) spinning wheel. But to get fibers (or threads) to spin requires a difference in speed between the bobbin and the flyer. With a single-drive this is accomplished by braking the bobbin with a tension-able band (a Scotch brake I think it's called). I realized this would be unlikely to accomplish on such a small scale. A double-drive system makes this more automatic.

I have a number of other requirements. For one, I didn't want it to look too 'machiney' (have at it Marv  ;D). For instance, to mate two bars together you might drill and tap through both and bolt them. But I didn't want the hole to be seen on the other side. I would like to see a bolt on both sides. Since the hole depth is on the order of 1/4" I had to think of something else. You'll see this shortly.

I'd like to really bling this up but I expect I'll save that for later. By which time I may be so disgusted with my work that I'll move on to something else before I 'finish' it.  ;D

I've finished the drawings and started some experimenting. I'm not too happy with the design of a couple of aspects (the bed and more importantly the stand that holds the maiden) but it's a first go.

A real challenge (besides the scale) will be the flywheel. 3.6" diameter. (It may not fit my lathe!). In the early thread I was needled into considering a spoked wheel (some of you know who did the needling...his name starts with 'M', ends with 'v', and has the letters 'a' and 'r' somewhere in-between). So the current design is a brass ring with aluminum spokes and a split aluminum hub screwed together to keep everything in place. No idea if that will work.

So here's some pics. Sorry for the quality. I hope to get better at this too.

Here's a pic of the prototype:



Don't know why it's sideways. The original picture was but I rotated it in PB and it shows rotated correctly in PB. But hey...it's wood and we don't want to look at it too long.

Here's a bobbin:



It came out pretty well but I doubt it will work. I need to chamfer the grooves so the band won't slip off.

Here's what I meant about pinning two bars together. What I did was take 1/8" hex rod, made an 0-80 bolt and a 'pin'.



Here's the bolt in the pin:



Here's two bars pinned together. The other side looks the same.



This next pic shows part of the flyer assembly. Fairly small. It's the 4th attempt and still I either got the central hole off or the sides milled at different distances. It's pretty rough. I used a steel button to try and round the edges as well as rounding around the central hole. Not a good job and I'll try again later.



This pic shows one of the 'legs' of the flyer. That will be a challenge too. You have to have a way to move the fiber (thread) along the leg to fill the bobbin. On wood systems this is done with open eye-lets. I'm hoping spaced holes with a little slot to the side will do the same.



I have no idea when I can continue to work on this. It may even die a quiet death as my attention is easily distracted.

Alan Haisley:
Carl,


I hope that you can stick with that. Small parts are as fascinating to see as they are difficult to make.


Alan

mklotz:
Head "needler" checking in here.

I like the bolt and pin arrangement.  For a less (gag) "machiney" look you might want to try faceting the hex heads.  Spinning wheel builders working in wood would probably have glued and doweled such a half-lap joint but a decorative, rosehead-like metal joiner would not be too out of place.

If the flywheel exceeds your lathe capacity, there will probably be lots of volunteers to turn the ring for you.

It's looking good so far.  Stick with it.  Unusual projects like this are great teachers.

Dean W:
Zee has a project going on MEM, and now all is right with the world!
Take all the time it takes, Carl.  I'm just happy it's here.

mklotz:
What Dean said.  Yeah.

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