Innov8R

Nice finished product no matter where all the parts came from. I've been following Leah Day's blog with her account of doing much the same thing with some treadle machines she recently bought.

tuckyquilter

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.. YOU did great on putting it together.

tate_elliott

An update on the machine, actually on the aquarium tubing. I had trouble using a section of the tubing as a connector. I tried cutting a thin slice off it, so it would fit better, but it would pull loose after a day. Or I wouldn't cut a slice off and I had trouble with that; my machine has a "hood" over the part of the handwheel where the belt goes and the belt bulged too much to go through with the full-sized connector. I tried using a piece of very thin, clear packing tape wrapped around the tubing just once and, so far, that seems to be working fine. If that fails, I may try sewing the two ends together.

Tate

tate_elliott

Back for what I hope is the last update. The packing tape didn't hold. I'm sure duct tape would be sticky enough to hold but it would add too much bulk to get through. I found that the hood was only partly to blame; the groove on the handwheel is so narrow, anything larger rides above the groove, thus it rubs the hood. So I have sewn the ends together by cutting a 1.5 inch section of tubing, cutting it in half lengthwise (so it won't make the tubing bulge), putting half of it up into each end, and hand sewing it. I put the section into the tubing so the stitching will be spread over a larger area than if I just sewed the tips of the two ends together.

Tate