My husband and I have built "Torpedo" the Charkha from the specs from Spin-Off Winter 1996.
The box is a "Hoja de Habano" Cigar Box. Inside features wheel with orginal Dave "Pi" designs. The spindles were built from double pointed knitted needles purchased from the Loop Halifax.
The Charkha works every other day - as the hunt for a more effective drive band continues. Right now it has cotton yarn and it isn't as effective and consistent as I would like.
3 comments:
Your charkha looks great! I'm finally getting back into working on mine. I was wondering what you used for the small pully wheel on the spindle? That's been my biggest challenge.
For my drive band on I got some plastic tubing/cording that's found in the bead section at craft stores. So far in testing it seems to work well.
You can see it here http://www.pieknits.com/blog/charkha/
Very nice! I've been wanting to build a charkha for a long time, but am having trouble finding the parts I need. I like the design work you did on the wheels.
I second the beading tubing. I use that on my charkhas for drive bands.
For the drive band, you could splice a piece of stretchy drive band material for spinning wheels. I used part of an Ashford drive band (clear) for my bobbin winder. If it takes thicker band, you can buy lengths of 1/4" black o-ring at machine shops. This is what I have used on my drum carder.
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