homemade wheel

[jess_hawk]

I see that there are a couple of threads on here about home-made wheels and thought I would take the opportunity to pick people's brains.
I'm fairly handy and creative (aren't we all!) so I've been considering making a wheel as an alternative to buying one. I've never spun by wheel, though, so I'd be flying a bit by the seat of my pants when it came to how things should work.
Has anyone ever built one of the upright styles of wheels, either from a kit or from plans? I'd like to go as small as I can because I'll be living in tight quarters for a while, and uprights look like they'll take up less space. I know that a bigger fly wheel allows more twist/finer yarn, and I'd love to be able to make fine yarn, but I simply don't have room so I'm thinking of a smaller wheel.

Also, I'm not really sure how the treadle runs the wheel - is the drive mechanism rigid or cord? a cord mechanism would be easier to build but I'm not sure how it would work - I can think my way through how a rigid mechanism would work but it would be awkward to build and implement.

Any advice/thoughts?

[Lucy78green]

I know someone on ravelry copied an ashford (I think) - looks lovely but it was for a school project and it looks like she had access to tools my dad could only dream about http://spacekitty.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/spinning-wheel/
Mine is less attractive and not as space saving as you'd like, we used cord to pull down on the wheel with the treadle, but my dad hasn't finished experimenting yet. We also had a few basic spinning books that explained what all the bits do - I haven't had lessons yet so I don't know how good it all is yet it'll prob need fine tuned when I do.
I picked up few links, but I haven't made any of these! This might be good for space saving http://www.interweave.com/spin/projects/equipment.asp
http://www.craftdesigns.co.uk/

[jess_hawk]

Thanks!
I bet I can modify the Charkha design to create a compact wheel that still has the speed for nice fine yarn. :cheering: