Angels are singing a chorus and radiant beams of light shine down on my mental image of the mechanics of an Irish tension spinning wheel.

So the mother of all. It's this high-fallutin' toilet paper holder. The bobbin's just that cardboard tube of the toilet paper roll which you stick on the tube that hooks/snaps onto the holder on the wall. Heeeheee. I know, not 100% of that's true. But it's what I had to do to break it all down with ease. See it like a TP holder :P.

So it's basically a pulley powered, 2 way, toilet paper holder. Instead of holding toilet paper it winds and unwinds fiber in the form of yarn. Gimme about 30 minutes to get warm and toasty(went to get coffee, and boy is it chilly out there). While warming up and getting myself alert, I'll doodle up a sketch of how I imagine Irish tension to work. Calling it Irish tension for fear bobbin tension might get me beat up by the dutch ;). Fear the dutch, wooden shoes and all. Sure a pair of keds'll smart if someone throws it at you, but clogs? Yeow! That's gonna leave a mark. Best not to rile the dutch as best you can :D.

Oooh crap! There's wooden shoes in Ireland too(lord of the dance ring a bell?), one way or another, I'm gonna wind up clogged, here's hoping gouda's involved ;).

Be back in a bit to post the doodle/diagram of how I figure Irish tension works(who am I trying to fool? Just like saying it don't I?).

3 of 8 felloes finished. I'm all yippeee! On account of figuring out that I can build a spinning wheel using fellows and dowels(so even if this one doesn't work out, there's still hope!

Ooh! I ground the hole in the center of the cake stand top. Started out drilling, then grinding, then grinding some more, but with my technique of holding the rotary tool between my knees(and I'll prolly get loads of comments saying how dangerous that is, but it's the only way I can keep the acrylic steady and move it at the same time(the rotary tool's too big and heavy/unweildy to move around the acrylic properly). I sort of use it as a bench grinder.

Slapped a rubber gasket around a bearing, and stuck it in the hole. A nearly perfect fit(it's not shifting, but still, I'd feel better if it was snug, so I'm gonna use some silicone to make a super tight but somewhat flexible fit).

As of right now, if you type: spinning on a dime in the google search, well, take a look! Right now this blog is the 2nd link!

Ooh, I found a tutorial for cutting heart shapes in wood, using just a drill and some round sanding drums(and no that's not what they're called but u get the idea). So if I need to adjust weight/balance on this thing by drilling holes, I'm going for a heart. It'll be my signature. Like the hole in the Louet wheels, but my very own:).

Holy crap! I think I might be one of those savantes. Without even trying too hard, I originally bought a bearing which is placed vertically in a garage door. Then I proceeded to rollerblade/inline skate bearings. They're also vertical bearings. Just think, I could be out 5 more dollars if I hadn't gone vertical without meaning to.

If I can get my grubby mitts on some mini-routing bits and plywood, I'm gonna make a wooden wheel using what I've learned about felloes. Normally plywood might warp. But with felloes and dowels/turned pieces of wood, or braces, it will remain strong and stable. Nicely balanced too:). Ooh and for a 14 inch wheel one would only need to print their pattern out onto a regular letter sized sheet of paper(think I mentioned that b4). You can get all 4 felloes + some extra parts from about a 14" x 15" sheet of plywood. That means a nice clean piece of scrap, would make an amazing drive wheel.