The holes drilled through the ballister to hold the spindle on my mini bike spinning wheel (still with me? Good, let’s move on) worked fine for a time, but the stress of the spinning maladjusted the holes and the spindle was binding instead of turning. Taking my engineer husband’s advice, I made an axel. I installed a tube for the spindle rather than just two holes. I had to open the existing holes a bit to fit the tube, and the only tube I could find locally that was small enough was square, but I was able to affix the tube and the spindle shaft fits well.

Because the axel has metal on metal, I needed some lubricant to ease the motion. I found my youngest’s old valve oil for her coronet. Works a treat. Another benefit of musicians in the house.