Hope it’s ok to post this here! A few years back I wanted to learn how to spin, so bought a spinning wheel on eBay but in the end the desire to make my own yarn fizzled out. When I was learning to use the wheel, sometimes the drive wheel would be spinning but the drive band wasn’t being moved, it’s as if it wasn’t getting any traction on the flyer or wheel. Maybe the band needed to be a bit tighter?
What I’d like to know is what’s best to use as packaging/how to palletise a wheel and is it ok to sell one if I suspect it needs a bit of maintenance as long as I’m upfront about that? The sale would include spare bobbins, bobbin holder, custom made niddy-noddy and a matching yarn gauge if I can find it lol.
It’s a 1970s Ashford wheel if that’s any help.
Prepping a spinning wheel for sale?
Almost all spinning wheels come with a way to adjust the tension on the bobbin drive. (Differing from flyer assembly drive) Usually it is something that moves the whole flyer assembly up or sideways until the drive band catches both bobbin & slyer drive disks with enough friction to spin them. Probably looks like a knob or something you’ grab & twist.
On a double band drive (actually the drive band string is just folded into a figure 8 & one “ear” (my made up term) catches the flyer assembly & the other travels in a nearly parallel circle & catches only the bobbin drive disc. Then by adjusting the flyer as described above, the appropriate differing tensions between the two creates the spin & “takeup” on the yarn/drafted fiber. The wheel has been designed to create tge differing tension. Not all wheels can be used as double drive but many can be used both ways.
Other wheels use the Scotch or Irish tension method. The 2 drives are tensioned about evenly then there is a band (usually string with a spring on the stationary part & a pin on the other side which you twist for more or less tension) that goes across the top of the bobbin drive disk (screwed onto the bobbin in mosyt cases) somewhere to create the differing tensions you are looking for.
My 1st wheel was borrowed from a person whose father hand made it. The Scotch tension thing had long since been lost. I thought it was defective but when she came back she noted that part was missing and we rigged a plastc electrical connection thing with string to go over the bobbin, twist on the thing & slow the bobbin relative to the flyer. Mystery solved.
You may benefit from studying the general theory of mechanical spinning.
Here is a video I just randomly found. There might be better ones.
It seems to me that we often get questions with photos of newly purchased used spinning wheels which are missing a critical part. Letting potential buyers know the state of the wheel and parts up front is a plus and an honest way to sell it.
Good luck with it!
Thanks, everything is present, I think the wheel itself has a very slight wobble, not sure if it’s a huge issue though. I’m definitely selling, it’s just gathering dust and I’ll be moving out of mum’s house in the next couple of months!
Thanks FluffyYarn, there is a tension knob. I will test it again later, hopefully it won’t be an issue but will be mentioned just in case. Hopefully whoever buys it knows what they’re doing!