It's ALIVE!

It actually spins!

The aluminum knitting needle I used is too flimsy to do any serious spinning on it - it will be bent in no time, but DH says he has some oak and walnut dowels I can raid. :-)

Also, as I suspected, the base was too long, so I shortened it:

Much better.  It's now approximately 36", and since the maiden rotates I can 'stretch out' as far as I want to.  I'm debating moving the drive wheel up, but I think I need to practice on it a bit first.  And the maiden moves too easily, so I need to fix that too.

A few parts still need to be glued, once I'm sure they work ok; and I'm sure I'll find other tweaks over time.

What a fun project!  Except now I need to de-clutter the guest room (where the last picture was taken) so I have space to use it!