Drop spindle

Something different today.

I've mentioned before that my wife Dani is a keen knitter and sewer. She wants to try and spin some wool herself, using a drop spindle. If you're curious about drop spindles I suggest looking on youtube, there's plenty of videos showing you how to use one.

I decided to make one for her, using an off-cut of MDF and some dowelling, all left over from other projects. The tool comprises of a disc, which acts as flywheel, a shaft, and a hook to hang the wool from.

I started with the disc. I marked out a circle on a piece of 12mm MDF, which was then cut out with a coping saw and an 8.8mm hole drilled in the centre to suit the dowel. I then mounted the drill in the lathe with the business end inside the spindle and the blank shaft sticking out with just a bit less than the width of the MDF sticking out of the chuck. The disc was then pushed onto the drill shaft and held in place with a piece of brass pressed against the end with a live centre in the tailstock;

This gave enough friction to hold the disc without slipping whilst I trued the outer diameter;

The spindle is just a length of dowel with the ends faced off on the lathe and a hole drilled in one end for a hook (an opened out picture eyelet from Woolworths).

Job done;

The disc is a good friction fit on the shaft so the position can be adjusted.

This is just a quick and easy job, a bit rough and ready, just so Dani can try using a drop spindle without buying one. If she finds that she likes using one then I could look at making something nicer (or she could buy one), however it could be varnished (shaft) and painted (disc) if Dani wants to make it pretty.

Paul.