Late last year I learned about bobbinwork embroidery, which involves winding a very thick thread or yarn onto the sewing machine bobbin. Squishy yarns don't do very well in many kinds of machine bobbin winders on account of the little metal tab that's meant to push down on the threads and pop up when the bobbin is full.
I can wind cotton perle on there alright, but I wouldn't want to try it with all 6 strands of a length of embroidery floss.
You can wind by hand while holding the edge of the bobbin between your fingertips, but that's annoying and your fingertips get in the way and make it go on unevenly.
You can slide the bobbin onto the tapered handle of a large paintbrush and spin it around by hand, which is better, but still slow. And both are a recipe for hand cramps if you have to do a lot for a big project.
(I haven't done shirring, but I think this all applies to winding elastic thread too.)
You can get hand crank bobbin winders meant for weaving (my mother has one) but they're awfully expensive.
But I got an eggbeater drill at an estate sale for 10 bucks earlier this year, and realized it's not that different. It's got a hand crank and a thingy that spins, so surely I could use it for winding bobbins.
I didn't want to attach anything to it permanently, because this is the only drill I own and I need it to still be useable as a drill, so I made a little stand to hold it.
I found a post from 2011 in which someone cut down the side knob to be flatter and just clamped that to the table, but mine is missing that knob, and I'd prefer something more upright anyways. And seeing as how there's a follow up post from the next year about the knob coming off, it probably isn't the most secure.
I have no power tools nor garage space, so I did all this in my sewing room with what hand tools I do have. It's not terribly pretty, but it's functional.
I'd recently dismantled a shallow hardwood desk drawer, and I figured the hole where the lock had been would be a good start for the cutouts that cradle the drill. I clamped one end to the table and used my tiny baby hacksaw to cut it through the hole, off centre so as to have one dip shallower than the other.
I wanted the big end of the hole to hold the narrow part of the wooden handle, and the shallow end to hold the metal end of the drill body. I started whittling away one edge of that end to accommodate the "shoulders", but then realized I wouldn't get enough material out that way.
I clamped it back on the table and sawed what I figured was enough off at a right angle.
It turned out to be a bit too deep to hold the drill shoulders, and the curve of the scooped out bit was too shallow and needed deepening.
I have a rasp that's too big and a file that's much too small, and between them I did my best to make the hole fit the end of the drill.
I made the bigger end of the hole a bit wider too, as it didn't quite fit the drill handle.
Then I cut those end bits down to a good height for the drill stand using my bigger hand saw, which is less neat and precise than the little hacksaw.
After that I figured I ought to cut the width down, since there was already a big cut from where the bottom of the desk drawer had been. I just clamped the pieces onto the already clamped piece with a second clamp, and used my big hand saw again.
I cut that edge off both of those.
Then I had to screw both of those bits down to a base, which was one of the pieces I'd just sawed those short pieces off of.
I found 4 suitable screws in my stash and used my drill to make pilot holes.
I traced the two short pieces onto the base, marking out the orientations of the cutout ends, and drilled all the way through the base. I clamped one end onto the table so I could drill through the end that was hanging in open air.
At first I thought it was painfully slow, but then I realized I'd been relying on the weight of the drill and not pushing down, and once I started pushing down it was fine and normal.
I held the stand pieces against the traced outlines and marked through the holes with some ink on a little bamboo stick. I taped the length of the rest of the screw onto the drill bit and drilled those.
Not having a bench vise, I clamped them on either side of another piece of board so they'd stand up nicely as I drilled them.
Countersink drill bits sound neat but I haven't got any, so I carved away the top edges of the holes with a utility knife.
I got the screw heads pretty well sunk into the wood, but some edges were still sticking out a little bit.
I don't want screw heads digging into the tabletop, so I glued on a thin scrap of plywood to safely pad the bottom. It was already an ok length to fit in the middle, and I just sliced off one end with the knife and a ruler on a cutting mat. It took a few more cuts than cardboard does, but it's fairly soft plywood.
I clamped that down and let the glue dry.
The rectangle I had cut out of the narrow end was still a few mm too deep to hold the shoulders of the drill, and it was rocking back and fourth, so I built up the sides by glueing a scrap of thick leather on either side of the hollow.
That still wasn't quite high enough to hold it evenly and stop the rocking, so I glued on another layer of slightly less thick leather. After the wood glue dried I trimmed down those edges to go with the angle of the scooped out bit.
I glued on a thin strip of
scrap glove leather to each of the 2 levels on that end. Smooth side up, since that side is more grippy on this soft leather.
And a bigger glove scrap on the bigger end.
The wood glue dried pretty quickly and I trimmed off all the overhanging parts with a knife.
Now you can see the stacked up thick leather better.
The drill sat in the cradle pretty snugly at this point, but I needed to tie it down so it wouldn't wiggle around or jump up at all.
I found some appropriate screws and washers in my stash, and cut some more glove leather scraps into 2 long strips with split ends. I punched a hole on the rounded ends.
I drilled more pilot holes and screwed the round ends onto the back with the washers like so. Smooth side down, so the grippy side is touching the drill.
And put the longer screws in the front with the non-threaded portion still protruding from the wood.
I hold the base down to the edge of the table with those 2 big C clamps
and tie the drill in with one regular knot below the screw, and a slipknot above the screw.
Nicely secure while being easy to undo! And if the straps ever break or wear out they'll be easy to replace.
For the bit that holds the bobbins, I found a small piece of dowel and carved down one end. At first I just shaved off 3 sides in a triangle, but the chuck wasn't holding it very evenly, so I carved grooves into the middles too.
Should have just cut 3 V shaped grooves in from the start instead of flattening the sides.
I whittled and sanded down the other end to be tapered and narrow enough to fit through a sewing machine bobbin, and this is the one thing I'm displeased with. As you can see in the picture, the tip is a little curved.
I don't know if I did a bad job at carving it, or if the dowel was warped, but the result is that the end wiggles back and fourth by just a couple of millimetres while it's spinning.
It's still perfectly useable, but if it bugs me too much I can try carving it down more. Or make a new one, I have more dowel this size.
It works! Hooray!
All in all I'm very pleased with it. I've been wanting to experiment with bobbinwork embroidery this year, and this will make it easier. I will edit this post with a link once I have a post up about that.
