Find the center of your pieces. Find the halfway points on each side, mark them, and draw lines connecting the midpoints on opposite sides together. Where the lines cross is the center of your wood or cardboard sheet.

Drive an anchor into the center point. For the plywood sheet, hammer a nail through the center mark. For the cardboard, push a thumbtack through. In both cases, drive the anchor through the sheet so that the hole is present on the other side.

4.

Tie a string to the anchor. The length of the string should be the distance from the center of the sheet to the center of one of the edges. For the cardboard overlay, you'll want the string to be 1 to 2 inches (2.5 cm to 5 cm) shorter, so that the overlay will have a smaller diameter than the wheel itself, to allow space for the peg handles.

5.

Tie a pencil to the other end of the string.

Draw a circle with the pencil, keeping the string taut. This will mark the outer edge of your wheel.

Cut along the edge of the circle. You can cut plywood sheeting with a jigsaw, scroll saw, or band saw. You can cut cardboard sheet with a good pair of heavy-duty scissors.

Put in the peg handles. The method differs slightly, depending on whether you use dowels or nails for the peg handles. Doweling should be from 1/4 to 1/2 inch (0.62 to 1.25 cm) in diameter. If you are using doweling, cut the doweling into 3 1/2 to 4 inch (8.75 to 10 cm) lengths. Drill at least 1 hole per wheel section line about 3/4 inch (1.87 cm) in from the edge about halfway through the wood. To guide your drill bit, use a drill jig or drill press to keep the bit perpendicular to the wood surface, and wrap the bit with tape 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) from the tip to mark when to stop drilling. You can pound the dowels into the holes with a mallet; you may first want to apply glue to the end of the dowel to be sunk into the hole to ensure it stays in place.

If you are using nails, you only need to mark the appropriate points with a pencil and then drive in the nails with a hammer. You can mark 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) on the nail with a marking pen or nail polish and then drive the nail to this mark with a hammer. Nails from 10 to 20 penny length are recommended.

You need to have at least 1 peg handle per section on your wheel so that the pointer will stop within a section when the wheel slows to a stop and not rebound to a previous section. More peg handles mean more friction and will cause the wheel not to spin as long. If you plan to use overlays with varying numbers of spaces, use the overlay with the most spaces when determining how many peg handles to place and where to place them.

Mark and drill holes for attaching the lazy Susan to the wheel. Do this on the side you marked to cut out the wheel itself, using the lines radiating from the wheel's center as a guide.