Adjusting the Double Drive Wheel 

Im glad it was helpful. I've had to make other adjustments to my wheel since making this video. I may need to do a follow up video on this one. I do love using my wheel. I still waffle between this one and my Ashford DD wheel. I love them both. The Ashford holds more thread/yarn on each bobbin than this wheel. I am a thin thread spinner.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Im glad to know it helped. If you have other questions about how to adjust and use the double drives my direct email can be found at my FB page under the about section. fb.me/naturesyarn

You are welcome to ask questions if you have any. I have learned a bunch since this video was produced.

Your welcome. Glad it helped.

If you have any troubles let me know and I can do a video on that

I have a Saxony also

Glad it helped. Thanks. :)

Thank you. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

Sometimes the drive band is correct but not always so its always good to check. I put on my drive band again today and had it twisted on the whorl. I picked up both and swapped places and all is now good again. Happy spinning. :)

Yes that is true but it is good to double check that it has in fact changed direction. The band can if not properly adjusted pop off before it reverses. That is the only reason I mentioned it in this video. Under normal use that is not an issue. I had an issue with the proper adjustment of my wheel to the flyer and the main issue was the flyer to the leather bearings. I eventually had to modify the flyer and leather bearing to keep the band from popping off when reversing direction.

Cheryl, the tension just needs to be enough to pull the thread wrapped on your bobbin so it will pull easily but have a very slight tension. In the video I was using a wool drive band but don't use wool. It stretches and will quickly break if you do. I use linen thread that I make myself and it holds up real well. It also allows some slippage so you can get a good light tension for take up control. As for drafting, you need to not allow the twist to get into the fiber. If it does just stop, back twist with your fingers to ease the twist and allow you to pull some fibers out then allow a little more twist. Go slow and don't work with two thick of fiber. The backtest with the fingers was my breakthrough in drafting and I don't try to grip it too darn tight. My original goal was to spin super thin for thread to go onto a loom and my antique sock knitting machine. So don't let your fiber be too think because when you ply your thread it still needs to easily pass through the orifice of the wheel. I have other videos that may help.

@@abittwisted thankyou!that should be very helpful.

Quite a rare one indeed. Now I know about 3 of them. I had to modify the end of the flyer as the end kept popping out of the leather bearing. I filed a deeper notch then I put in a new leather bushing. I drilled a hole just a tiny bit larger in diameter and the width of the groove I filed into was a perfect with to the leather bushing. I cut a slot from the top to the new hole and it just popped right in without the need to move the upright on the mother of all. I had new bobbins made so I have more than one. I also had a couple new whorls made so I could spin flax better without too much twist. It is a good wheel. It is my first wheel I purchased for myself. In my about page you will find the email you can use to contact me about the wheel and to send pics of the wheel. I can help better if I can see the in detail. Just remember to lubricate all the moving parts. I use clear stain free sewing machine oil that you can get off of Amazon.

I don't have any trouble with the drive bands rubbing at the cross. What are you using for a drive band? I use my own home spun 2 ply linen thread as my drive band. My drive band is rather skinny. Could be you have too thick of drive band. The cross will move from top to bottom depending upon which way you spin naturally.

Do you have a place I could go have a look at your setup like on FB or some photo album or RU-vid channel?

What I have been able to observe over the years is that a wheel that is out of alignment with the whorls can cause it to jump off the wheel. A fuzzy drive band that snags upon itself will cause the band to jump off the wheel and a big fat knot will cause the opposing side to catch and jump the band off as it comes to the big knot. This is why you tie your drive band together or use very skinny knots. I typically use my own home made linen drive bands and because linen is fuzzy by nature it will easily snag upon itself at the cross point and cause it to jump off the wheel. My fix is to wax my drive band real well to remove any fuzziness and the knots I use are small so they don't readily catch at the cross point causing the band to jump. My drive bands are rather skinny. If your band is thick you should tie your ends together so you don't have the knot issue and wax your band well. It will help it live longer and remove any fuzziness. Adjust your tension accordingly. Not too tight or loose but sometimes you need real light tension so be sure your wheel is in proper alignment.

I have read that cotton is best. I have used hemp and I now have my two ply linen thread I made on this wheel. It is working great for me.

The wool drive band I did not like because it stretched out too much. The linen thread is working great.

String. After 5 years, I still have the original band on my wheel.

Any luck getting the drive band to say put? Any place I could check out photos or video of your setup? Video of setup would be helpful.

I had to make some extra adjustments to my wheel so I could successfully run my wheel backwards for plying. Now it runs very nicely for plying. I have a new idea to increase the diameter of the whorl a bit without even changing the whorl. Video on that coming soon.

Did you finally get the wheel to run better? What was your solution for your wheel if you got yours running?

This has no specific brand. This one was built by a small company in Italy in 1968. It is a typical design but with the makers input. It is similar to many old victorian wheels but newer and nicer in my opinion. I really like this wheel and have never seen one exactly like it. I have new reproduced bobbins coming as this one only had one when I purchased it. The people whom I purchased it from had used it as living room art and I was the very first one to spin any yarn on the wheel. It sat unused for many many years. It was liked but was put up for sale. I snagged it.

Interesting. It looks exactly like my wheel. Mine is from 1977, was built by a man named Jensen Almaas in Enderby, BC, Canada. Same MOA, bobbin, and even little caps on the drive wheel supports

@@oxybikechic Do you have pictures you could send of your wheel? I was told mine was built in Italy. If mine matches yours then maybe my information is wrong. lumiecraft at g mail . com

​@@oxybikechic😮 mine is 1977, I'm in the Cariboo!!! Exactly the same in design

Tension needs to be light. Typically the super old wheels have gunk on the bobbin shaft of the flyer and has gunk built up inside the bobbin shaft hole. You will need to clean off the shaft to dry metal then use some sort of stick with sand paper to slip in the hole of the bobbin and sand out the gunk. Then it will likely spin like a top for you. I had the problem with a pretty old wheel I picked up and got running again. If you only clean the shaft it may not work so you need to clean both the shaft and bobbin shaft hole. Give it a spin. I can be found at fb.me/naturesyarn. You can ask questions there. What FB Flax or Spinning Pages to you belong to? If we can meet on one of those pages you can post pictures of your wheel and I can give a better assessment. You can do some short video too which would help assess the issues. Glad to help.

@@abittwisted thank you so much for your answer! First, i wanna make a correction, the bobbin spins perfectly, but it doesnt wind. The whole thing is surprisingly new-looking and clean, i still went over it and cleaned it anyway, inside and out all over, and thats the state im experiencing the issue in. A thing i noticed however, is the difference between the size of the flyer wheel and the bobbin wheel is tiiiiny. Like, three millimetres max. So the two spin at the same speed. Now its pretty obvious to me that thats the problem. Originally, i thought maybe this isnt the original bobbin. But after a lot of searching, i found a model exactly like mine, and it has the same bobbin, wheels same size. So i think im going to acquire a bobbin with a smaller wheel. But im still curious why its like that. Here are the wheels: imgur.com/a/139DsZV

@@0yodelingpickle526 Ok, Good pic. The bobbin and whorl are just fine. These old wheels are supposed to be that way. One is just slightly larger than the other. This is what is used for winding the thread on the bobbin. These wheels are designed to spin thin thread for weaving and not bulky art yarn. Your drive band should be one huge band doubled up on itself. And of a material that will slip if needed. I use a large linen thread I made myself for my drive bands. If you put a long leader on your bobbin you can practice spinning that leader onto your bobbin. Id make it pretty long so you have something to easily work with. Thin as well. Do not put much tension on the drive band and slowly adjust until it takes up the thread. Don’t let the leader get too twisted or it will bind up and not feed through the orifice or make it around the hooks. The wheel will easily over twist quickly if you are not careful. Keep practicing until you can get that leader to wind onto the bobbin. Start so loose that the drive bands just slip under super light pressure when you turn the wheel. You can even use your hand to slowly spin the wheel so you don’t over twist your practice thread. More images of the flyer setup to spin would be helpful. Yes, the bobbin looks to be in excellent shape. Pictures help a great deal.

@@0yodelingpickle526 any update

@@abittwisted hello, very sorry for the wait, i was busy with other things these past days. i tried some different sized whorls and now things are good.