Looking for drawing or plans for a yarn umbrella swift

[Lou Jacobs]

My wife is a weaver and I’d like to make her an umbrella swift. I’ve searched for dimensions and can find nothing specific, (i.e. length, thickness and width of slats, size of rotating hubs, height of central pole, etc.). I wonder if anyone has made one of these and if so, could you share critical dimensions? I’ve used the search function and come up empty. Thanks loads!

 

[Jim Reynolds]

My brief search yielded several retail options for $30 to $60. The pictures made these devices look moderately complex. I admire your ambition. This isn’t a bridge I would cross. Best of luck.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

My brief search yielded several retail options for $30 to $60. The pictures made these devices look moderately complex. I admire your ambition. This isn’t a bridge I would cross. Best of luck.

Jim, thanks for the good wishes! I know they’re not expensive, but I’d like to make her one. It’ll be more valued if it was made for her. I don’t think it’s too complex, just several pieces that have to be scaled well to each other. (I hope!). We’ll see…

Added: and just to be clear, when I said I’ve used the search function, I meant on this site. I know there are loads of references for swifts out on the web, but I was hard pressed to find any with dimensions, or that could be used in the way of plans.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I made one of those a long time ago, more than 60 years ago while stil home with several sisters that would knit, they would put me in their production with me holding the wool while they made the balls, wel I quickly got out of that arrangement and made a simple contraption that worked.

Here is one that is similar to the one I made, very simple and it will do the job, easy to change size and take apart to store it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNSEXRRxOzQ

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Thanks Leo. I’m specifically looking for an umbrella swift.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

OK, this one does not look to be very difficult if you can change and make the parts yourself.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

You’re on it now Leo. Thanks! I was hoping for one with dimensions, but I’ll either have to sneak a ruler into a weaving or knitting shop and take them off myself, or resort to some complex (for me) geometry. My understanding is that the outer circumference when the swift is opened, should be at least 60” or so, with the capacity to go a bit larger. Not rocket science, but I was hoping someone here may have already been down that path.

 

[R Henrickson]

You could scale dimensions off the photo easily if Leo could tell the height or any other dimension

 

[Brian Gustin]

What R Henrickson said. I'd probably just take a piece of cardboard and draw out the desired diameter and then cut a few test scraps and see if I can arrange them in some suitable pattern of evenly spaced pieces to the outer diameter of an inner circle - that would tell you roughly how many pieces and what length they need to be, and the tricky part would be getting all the holes (center and either end) of the "scissor" pieces to be precisely in the exact spot - Just a TINY bit off one way or another and the whole assembly wouldn't properly work without binding..... so you'd want to be sure you have a precisely accurate drill press and the skills to get things dead center, or perhaps you can have someone cut the parts CNC (which is probably what most of those pieces are done by nowadays)

I could easily get the rough pieces cut and sized, but I'd be guaranteed to fail at the hole drilling part - almost invariably my drill press would allow some amount of deviation on pieces (I've done some folding furniture which also requires pretty precise hole drilling but is a tad more forgiving off errors..) So I wouldn't try making one of those swifts myself.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

Those folks that own knitting and weaving places are pretty friendly. I bet if you called ahead and told them what you're planning to do, they'd let you take measurements. Is your wife on Ravelry? If not, she should join. It's amazing according to all the knitters I know. There may be plans there.

 

[Jim Reynolds]

Amazon would deliver one and you could study it, at your leisure, and then return it.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

What R Henrickson said. I'd probably just take a piece of cardboard and draw out the desired diameter and then cut a few test scraps and see if I can arrange them in some suitable pattern of evenly spaced pieces to the outer diameter of an inner circle - that would tell you roughly how many pieces and what length they need to be, and the tricky part would be getting all the holes (center and either end) of the "scissor" pieces to be precisely in the exact spot - Just a TINY bit off one way or another and the whole assembly wouldn't properly work without binding..... so you'd want to be sure you have a precisely accurate drill press and the skills to get things dead center, or perhaps you can have someone cut the parts CNC (which is probably what most of those pieces are done by nowadays)

I could easily get the rough pieces cut and sized, but I'd be guaranteed to fail at the hole drilling part - almost invariably my drill press would allow some amount of deviation on pieces (I've done some folding furniture which also requires pretty precise hole drilling but is a tad more forgiving off errors..) So I wouldn't try making one of those swifts myself.

Brian, you’re right about the critical nature of the joints. Many of the ones I’ve seen use string for the joints which have built-in play. I may do that on the ends, and loose rivet the center joints.
I’ve worked out the size of the slats and came up with about 15” for the lengths. That should give me a 60” circumference.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Those folks that own knitting and weaving places are pretty friendly. I bet if you called ahead and told them what you're planning to do, they'd let you take measurements. Is your wife on Ravelry? If not, she should join. It's amazing according to all the knitters I know. There may be plans there.

Brent, good idea, but this is to be a surprise (unless she walks in on me in the shop!). She is on a couple of weaving listservs, but I’m trying to stay below the radar.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Amazon would deliver one and you could study it, at your leisure, and then return it.

Jim, I’d have to have it delivered to a clandestine address. I figured I should be able to work this out without involving Jeff Bezos, but good idea as a last resort.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Is your wife on Ravelry? If not, she should join. It's amazing according to all the knitters I know. There may be plans there.

Brent, this turned out to be a great idea. I joined Ravelry myself (the secrets we keep in a marriage!). While I find no plans there, there are a few detailed pictures that will make it pretty easy for me to come up with my own design. Thanks loads! Here’s one that I can use as a jumping off point.

 

[Dave Bunge]

@Lou Jacobs
I bought this yarn swift for my wife back in 2010. It's worked well for her. The Amazon page has some close up shots that might help with design and a video showing how to use it. https://www.amazon.com/Stanwood-Nee...ae8f9840&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

For perspective, the slats...straight pieces that are linked together with string...are about 14" long, 9/16" wide, and 3/16" thick. Their edges are slightly rounded over.

The only change I'd make to the design is to increase the depth of the wooden screw that clamps the swift on to the table. Depth meaning letting it slide further on to the table before tightening the clamp.

Good luck. I agree with others that this is an ambitious project.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

@Lou Jacobs
I bought this yarn swift for my wife back in 2010. It's worked well for her. The Amazon page has some close up shots that might help with design and a video showing how to use it. https://www.amazon.com/Stanwood-Needlecraft-Wooden-Umbrella-Winder/dp/B000IG1I8O/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3LUOM7KH0AB5I&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._L_Xcku038pBpGuO-x3dPfwx9rpkfWHbv8pB698AyiJxBbVx5TMhYqfsyEMmovEsgBa3RmsquySVupEkwp8Gcg.hkI9I_dibVqS0zo7MGIzsj7JfGhJ8_f651ygaMsJVjU&dib_tag=se&keywords=yarn+swift&qid=1704975304&sprefix=yarn+swift,aps,113&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do:amzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

For perspective, the slats...straight pieces that are linked together with string...are about 14" long, 9/16" wide, and 3/16" thick. Their edges are slightly rounded over.

The only change I'd make to the design is to increase the depth of the wooden screw that clamps the swift on to the table. Depth meaning letting it slide further on to the table before tightening the clamp.

Good luck. I agree with others that this is an ambitious project.

Dave, thank you! This is very helpful. Your dimensions will get me going. Looks like the slats that come out from the central shaft are joined with a rivet, while the outsides (top and bottom) are tied. Once I get started I’ll try to post the progress on the projects section of the site.

 

[Dave Bunge]

Looks like the slats that come out from the central shaft are joined with a rivet, while the outsides (top and bottom) are tied.

Here's how the slats are attached to the central hubs on my wife's swift. Wire in groove cut into hubs:

 

[Lou Jacobs]

That’s great Dave! You’re a terrific resource!

 

[Walt Ahlgrim]

I built one about 20 years ago. It worked OK but the wife struggled to use it after a few years a factory made one appeared and it seems to work much better than the home made one. I think part of what make it work better is that it weighs so much less. It takes less energy to get it moving and it stops faster.

Just yesterday I was rearranging the shop and moved the jig I built to guide the circular saw on the lathe for cut the slots in the hub and used the index pin to locate the next slot.



Walta

 

[Lou Jacobs]

I built one about 20 years ago. It worked OK but the wife struggled to use it after a few years a factory made one appeared and it seems to work much better than the home made one. I think part of what make it work better is that it weighs so much less. It takes less energy to get it moving and it stops faster.

Just yesterday I was rearranging the shop and moved the jig I built to guide the circular saw on the lathe for cut the slots in the hub and used the index pin to locate the next slot.



Walta

Thanks for this Walt. I’ve also got several jigs, table slaw sleds, guides, etc., that i built years or decades ago, which were used once or just a few times, then not again for years, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of. One of these days I simply won’t be able to move in my shop!

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Here's how the slats are attached to the central hubs on my wife's swift. Wire in groove cut into hubs:

View attachment 59176

Dave, you’ve been so helpful with pictures and measurements of your wife’s swift, I wonder if I could ask you a couple of additional questions. Would you approximate the diameter of the center shaft, both the main section, and at the top where the upper hub rests? No worries if it’s not convenient to do this. I’m having second thoughts about posting my progress (underway) on the projects section, as this is only partially a turning project, and lots of work off the lathe. It’s turning (pun not intended) out to be pretty simple turning, although a jig I made to route the slots in the hubs might be of interest. Do I sound ambivalent?

 

[Dave Landers]

although a jig I made to route the slots in the hubs might be of interest

yes, it would be

 

[Lou Jacobs]

yes, it would be

You twisted my arm! I’ll start a thread over there shortly.

 

[Dave Bunge]

@Lou Jacobs
Lou, the main shaft is just under 5/8" in diameter. The axle if you will that the upper hub spins on is just under 7/16" diameter. That's in my 30% RH Michigan basement.

The hubs themselves are 2" diameter, 1 3/16" thick.

Here's a photo showing the top of the main shaft and the upper hub axle.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

@Lou Jacobs
Lou, the main shaft is just under 5/8" in diameter. The axel if you will that the upper hub spins on is just under 7/16" diameter. That's in my 30% RH Michigan basement.

The hubs themselves are 2" diameter, 1 3/16" thick.

Here's a photo showing the top of the main shaft and the upper hub axel.

View attachment 59319

Thanks so much for this data Dave! Its tremendously helpful !

 

[Lou Jacobs]

For those who may not usually explore that far down this website’s main menu, I have started a thread on the “Projects” section of the site. The making of a “machine” intrigued me. As I said above, this is only partially a turning project, but when it all comes together, rotating will be its main function.