Spinning wheel woes

[farmgirljane]

Bought a second hand wheel yesterday.  I have had to jerry rig a scorth tensioner as it didnt have one.  This has helped a little but having trouble balancing tensions on bobbin and wheel.  Are the bobbins supposed to spin freely on the flywheel when not under tension as the bobbins seem to be rather tight fitting on it at the moment. Also what is best to use as a belt on the wheel as it didnt come with one

[Arienna]

Heya! Could you show me some pictures of your wheel? I can give you better advice if I know what you're working with.

[farmgirljane]

[Arienna]

Is that a Sleeping Beauty?? You lucky, lucky ducky. I believe that wheel is set up to be a double drive wheel with a tilt tension. See this website for a little more information: http://www.nzspinningwheels.info/sleepingbeauty.html

While it can totally be used with a rigged Scotch tensioner you may find better luck setting it up as a double drive - by wrapping a drive band around the wheel and flyer twice, putting one loop of the strong on the whorl and one on the end of the bobbin, where you currently have your scotch tension loop. Then I believe the wheel can be adjusted with the knob on the mother of all.

Here's a picture of my double drive wheel showing how the string works:


and a close up of the flyer set up:


Alright, onto your questions. The bobbin should be able to spin pretty freely on the spindle when not under tension - check and see if there's any gunk on the spindle or inside the bobbin? Can your other bobbins spin better? Did you screw the whorl on really, really tightly?

Drive bands can be made with almost any kind of cotton string or you can buy them commercially. You can tell they get worn out because you need way more tension to make it work. Here's a link about the care and feeding of drive bands: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEff11/KSFEATff11glossary.php

I keep a couple on my wheel, one for the largest whorl I own and one for the smallest so I can get really sharp take up for the work I'm doing.

[farmgirljane]

Thankyou so much Arianna.  A Sleeping Beauty  -  no idea got it super cheap online.  Needs a little work she does have the wobbles.  Thanks for the help.  Will see how i go