Electric Eel Wheel User's Guide

By: Maurice Ribble

2/20/2010 Version 1.2.00

The Electric Eel Wheel hardware and firmware are open source under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Overview

The Electric Eel Wheel is a clever electric spinning wheel making it great for easily spinning the fiber of your choice into yarn! You can use a traditional wheel; however, there are many advantages of this electric wheel design. First of all, the Electric Eel Wheel is lighter and smaller than most spinning wheels making it easier to take your spinning with you.

This electric spinning wheel's design is based on a Scotch tension design, so it is easy to vary the spin and weight of your yarn. You can easily adjust it to make fine lace yarn as well as softly spun bulky. Another nice feature of the speed control dial is that it can spin the bobbin forward or reverse. Most people in our testing lab appreciated the range of speed that this wheel offers.

Basic Operations

The first thing you should do is plug in the power.

Next turn the power switch on. The dial controls the motor speed. When it is centered the motor does not turn. The farther clockwise you turn the dial, the faster it goes. If you turn it counter clockwise, then the motor goes in reverse which is how you can ply yarn.

Installing a New Belt

First put the belt around the small pulley.

Next insert the flyer and put the belt around the small portion of the larger pulley.

Lastly put the belt onto the big pulley's groove and rotate the flyer with your hand to ease the belt onto the pulley.

Changing Bobbins

Put a piece of starter yarn onto the bobbin. Sometimes a small piece of tape helps hold this starter yarn in place.

Lift one end of the flyer and slide on the new bobbin.

String this starter yarn through the flyer's hoop and the hook.

Then use the orifice hook to pull the starter yarn through.

Fixing Squeaky Flyer

If the flyer starts to squeak, or the motor spins more slowly, then you should apply a small amount of grease (I use white lithium grease) to the flyer pipe where it touches the wooden channels. This willl eliminate the squeaking and reduce friction. A small tube from any hardware store will be more than you ever need..

Video

Here is a video that shows the Electric Eel Wheel in action.