Thank you. You're quite right. I've bought some fishing line and am now in the process of tieing it back on to the end (I think i will wait for an extra pair of hands to get home to help me).

My understanding is that you wind the drum 3-4 times first (so it has tension), then tie the drawband back on. The most useful thing i found on the internet was that it must go round a pulley (as you mentioned) then a STRAIGHT LINE to the point the old one was fixed. After i knew this, it was fairly simple to work out the route it should take.

I'll post some photos of the working machine when its finished. Thanks again!