I have worked some more on the spinning wheel tuning project - and it was frustrating. Sometimes, you sit down and try things and make a prototype and do the maths and then you go for the real thing and everything works beautifully. This, however, was not one of these times. About nothing in the current setup worked as planned.
The two whorls I 3D-printed are too slippery to give good traction to the drive band. (3D printing is still very cool.) So... I tried to make the drive band less slippery. I had had wonderful de-slipping success some years ago with using Seamgrip, a sort of glue originally intended to fix holes in outdoor stuff like tents. Unfortunately, the new tube of SG that I ordered made the thread I had planned to use stiff and slick, not supple with a rubbery outside.
So, after a while of fiddling and some more fiddling and lots of cursing, I have now switched back to the prototype setup from before, which was always intended to be temporary. For the current spinning tests that I have to do, this is what I will have to use - provided it will work well enough.
After that, I will have to sit down and plan again. I have not given up yet - but it looks as if there has to be some more fiddling and making of parts before my original plan can be implemented.
Monday, 27 October 2014
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4 comments:
i'd have never thought of 3D printing spools! how clever! what material did you have them printed in?
Would it be possible to roughen up the surface of the 3D-printed material instead (sanding, application of a layer of glue/seamgrip/other stuff that gives a slightly tacky surface)? I'm now thinking of the poly band on my Majacraft, too... I hope you find a satisfactory solution at some point, even if it is too late for the actual test.
When I restored my Canadian Production Wheel, I accidentally got too much Danish oil in the groove of the whorl. Hours later, after trying and failing to make the band stop slipping and get some takeup, DH suggested folding some coarse sand paper in half and sanding out the groove.
Duh. Why didn't I think of that?? It's a very effective fix - you should try that on your 3D whorl grooves before giving up. It might just work as well for you as it did for me!
Thank you for all your comments! Isis, I used the material that was in the printer - the very normal, common plastic stuff that can be smoothed out with acetone fumes. (I didn't smooth it, obviously.)
Wanderingskopos and tinfoilhat, I might try both methods, roughing up and making sticky. I am also considering getting a poly band, though the thinnest I can find is 2 mm in diameter, and I'm not convinced this is thin enough. I'll try that, probably, though.
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