Spinning Troubleshooting

Flyer won’t turn.
The drive band is not over the flyer whorl, or the drive band is too loose.  Make sure the drive band is positioned correctly in the flyer whorl.  Tighten the drive band. 

Yarn won’t wind on.

• There may not be enough tension. Tighten the drive band or the Scotch tension band.

• In double-drive mode, the whorl on the bobbin should be smaller than the flyer whorl.  If it isn't, use the smaller end of the bobbin, or change the flyer whorl.

• Check to be sure that the yarn is not wrapped around a flyer hook.

Yarn takes up too fast.
The whorl ratio is too high. Try a bigger whorl (with a lower ratio) to slow down the wheel, slow down your treadling, or loosen the tension on the drive band.

Yarn doesn’t have enough twist.
The yarn is probably being drawn onto the bobbin too quickly. Hold back on the yarn to allow for more twist to be transferred to the yarn, treadle faster, or change to a smaller whorl.

Yarn has too much twist.
This is a common problem for new spinners. Generally, when the yarn overtwists it kinks up and results in yarn breakage. Usually overtwisting is caused by holding the yarn too long before allowing it to take up onto the flyer. Try slowing down your treadling and drawing out the fibers faster so that they can be taken up more quickly. Also, you can try tightening the tension so that the yarn takes up faster.

Bobbin isn’t turning on the flyer shaft.
Check to see if the wood of the bobbin has become swollen. First remove the flyer assembly from the wheel and try spinning the bobbin on the shaft with your finger. If the bobbin doesn’t turn freely, it needs to be reamed. Send the bobbin and the flyer assembly to the factory along with $12.00 to cover return shipping. We’ll ream the bobbin, check the fit and return it to you.

Treadling is too hard.
The tension on either the drive band or the Scotch tension band is too tight. Loosen and then retighten the tension only enough to make the yarn start to draw in. You may also want to try a lower or higher seat.

Yarn draws in erratically.
If you tied your drive band, check to see that the knot isn’t too large or too hard.

Bobbins are noisy.
To fix noisy bobbins use white grease (used for sewing machines). Place the bobbin on the flyer shaft. Then place a small amount of white grease on either end of the bobbin on the flyer shaft. Put a drop of oil on top of the white grease.  When finished spinning wipe the white grease off the flyer shaft to prevent the shaft from becoming sticky.

The problem could also be a noisy whorl. To determine if the noise is coming from the bobbin or the whorl, place the drive band (or bands) first over the whorl and treadle. If the whorl makes a noise, then the source of the noise is the whorl.  Now place the drive band over the bobbin and treadle. If the bobbin makes a noise, then the noise is coming from the bobbin. To fix whorl noise, the flyer and all whorls should be sent to Schacht for tightening. Noisy bobbins should receive the treatment noted above. Climatic changes may cause a bobbin to become noisy. Also, bobbins may become noisy when they are very full.