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EEW Yarn Counter Feedback Wanted

I still have enough stock of these to last a while, but it is time to start thinking about an update since manufacturing takes time.  I’m happy with how these are performing and have had very few complaints.

I’ve considered changing to a screen with a backlight so the screen can be easier to read in the dark, or switching from the optical sensor to using a hall sensor (magnets) to make it more dust resistant.  The screen idea would use a lot more power.  The hall sensor idea would increase power usage moderately.  I’m leaning towards not doing these changes since I think having a very long battery life is really nice.

I have a few other very minor ideas.  For example an assembly change so the yarn guides don’t move as easily.

Right now I’m leaning towards just the assembly improvements.  However, I’d like to ask the community for ideas and if I get any that justify an updated version I’d consider that.  If you want to make any suggestions please just respond to this email.

EEW Fold Update

I’ve been making rapid progress on the EEW Fold.  I made a short new video showing off some of the changes.

Since making that video I’ve sent off prototypes to a few testers.  I’m just starting to receive feedback and plan to do some more updates based on that feedback and then more testing.  After a few rounds of this back and forth I’ll finalize the design and start getting it ready for manufacturing.  Once I’m convinced that the molded plastic parts will work well, I’ll do a Kickstarter for this.  I’m still hoping to do that around the end of this year, but there is a lot of variability in this part of the process so that date is just an estimate.  If I need to do a few extra rounds of prototyping or if there are unforeseen issues with the molded parts (both of which have happened on past products) then this date will get pushed out.  When I run the Kickstarter or pre orders I want to have things far enough along that I have a good chance of hitting my delivery dates.

EEW Nano 2.1 Info

I’ve got some nice improvements coming with the EEW Nano 2.1.  Some of the big ones are changing to a spring tension system, bearings in the bobbins, and a new flyer design.  I’ve already had some beta testers try it out and they were pretty happy with it, but they did have some suggestions which have required me to make some changes to the molds.  I’m going to wait until I get a near final version before doing a video showing the full list of improvements in this new version.

The motor and electronics are unchanged. Most of the changes are focused on the flyer/bobbins which means I’ll be able to offer an affordable upgrade kit for those who want to upgrade from the EEW Nano 2.0 to the EEW Nano 2.1.  These upgrade kits should be available at the same time as the EEW Nano 2.1.  Right now my best estimate is this will be around January 2021.  I’m not accepting preorders, but when I get the items in stock there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

Tripod Mounts

I made 3D printable mounts for the EEW 6.x and EEW Nano. As always the files are freely available. If you don’t want to deal with the files this page explains various ways to get them.

I’ve seen a few people make wooden mounts to hold their eSpinners and I thought a 3D printable mount would be an improvement on those.  The eSpinner slides right into the mount and you can tilt the tripod to any angle you want to spin at without worrying about the eSpinner falling out, but it’s still easy to remove the eSpinner any time you want to spin without the tripod.  I’m happy with how this tripod mount turned out.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Fold Kickstarter – December 2024
• EEW Nano 2.1 – January 2025

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– Maurice Ribble
Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel

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June 01, 2024

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New eSpinner Prototype (EEW Fold)

Here is a new video that shows a new eSpinner prototype.  It will be between the size and price of the EEW Nano and EEW 6.  It also folds down to a super small size for shipping and storage. Watch the video for more details.  Please leave feedback if you haven’t, but based on the feedback so here are some things I’m working on for the prototype I’m making for my beta testers.

• Probably will be named EEW Fold
• Will include the display
• I’m working to see if I can make a better bottom holder for the flyer

Shipping Box and Quality Control Report for EEW 6.1

I’ve seen several posts on the Facebook/Ravelry group where people have reported damage to boxes and other issues.  I think it’s good people report these since I like to be open about there being issues.  However, I hope people remember a much higher percentage of people report issues than report everything is working. A lot of other businesses try to avoid these kinds of open discussions because it can make people think there are more issues than there really are, but I am taking an approach where openness is best.  It also really motivates me to reduce issues going forward.

I don’t have a good way of measuring box damage since many won’t report it, but very few of the EEW 6.1s had shipping damage.  The EEW is designed to be durable so the items inside the box are usually fine even if the box was beaten up during shipping.  I know some people feel worried when a damaged box shows up, but what really matters is what’s inside.  If anything is damaged I obviously replace it.  Out of the 1000+ EEW 6.1s that shipped in the first few days there were only two people who I think actually had their eSpinner damaged in shipping (0.2%).  That said two other people decided to return the EEW 6.1 for a refund because of box damage without opening so I should say 0.4% were affected.  I do want to improve this, but I think the cost and carbon impact of double boxing every item to avoid this is too high.  Instead I will focus on other improvements.  I can try to make the box smaller which will help and perhap add some internal support.  Items that are smaller like the EEW Nano and future EEW Fold have a big advantage here just due to box strength increasing exponentially as box size reduces.  Better taping will also help strengthen existing boxes.

A bigger problem has been quality control issues. My best estimate is this affected around 3-4% which is a lot of people when shipping over 1000 of these in the first few days. I target under 1% issues. This is stuff like loose motor screws, and missing parts. I’m not counting the reversed flyer hooks which is a different process issue that was very easy to fix by people just flipping the hooks around. I actually had the quality control pretty good on the EEW Nano 2 and Cone Winder (my last two products), but there was a regression with the EEW 6.1.  I asked the factory to try and go a little quicker (assuming they would keep quality control in place, but they didn’t). I’ve made it clear to my factory that quality control checks are going to always be important going forward. Quality inspections add to my assembly costs, but I think doing a reasonable amount of quality checking is important and is something I factor into my prices.

Reducing Vibrations on EEW 6

I made this video to show ways to reduce vibration on the EEW 6.  There are chapters in the youtube video so you can skip around, but the topics covered are balancing the flyer, aligning hooks, adding a clamp, adding weight, and  tightening the bottom cover.

EEW 6.0 Circuit Board Upgrade and Store Spare Parts Change

Previously, I sold parts packs for the EEW 6 and EEW Nano.  The reason I did this is because each item I carry in my store adds complexity for people getting the parts they want and for myself keeping things in stock.  I really don’t even want to care about these kinds of parts so on any generic part I also list on that item’s page where you can buy them elsewhere online.  However, I also know people like the convenience of buying directly from me and those people have been asking me to sell individual items.  Because of these requests and to try and create less waste, I’ve changed to selling individual items in my store.  Now people can buy individual items like drive belts, orifice hooks, bearings, and more.  For the non-custom parts I will continue to list alternative stores.  Just go to the main www.dreamingrobots.com page and then at the top go to “Product Info” and select your product.  That page will list all the replacement part options.  If you want to buy things from me just to my store.

One of the new parts I added to the store is the circuit board for the EEW 6.1.  I created this video about upgrading the circuit board on the EEW 6.0 to the EEW 6.1 to increase motor life.  So watch that if it is something you are possibly interested in doing.  This only applies to the EEW 6.0 since the EEW 6.1 already uses this new circuit board.  This new circuit board is an item in my store now.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Fold Kickstarter – December 2024
• EEW Nano 2.1 – January 2025

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– Maurice Ribble
Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel

www.DreamingRobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

April 24, 2024

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This email will be replacing my normal May 2024 Newsletter.

EEW 6.1

Upgrade to the EEW 6.1 now!  The EEW 6.1 is a bigger, more powerful, and smoother version of the EEW Nano. Order today for $269, before it goes back to $299 on May 1st. This limited time discount is my way of thanking both return customers and those who have been patiently waiting while the EEW 6 has been out of stock.  Due to high demand there may be shipping delays of upto a week.  Watch this video for a quick overview of the EEW 6.1. 

Here are some of my favorite features of the EEW 6.1:

• Compact travel friendly design
• Weighs under 3 pounds (1.3 kgs)
• Bobbins hold 8 ounces (225 grams)
• Sealed ball bearings on all friction points (eliminates need for oil and results in quiet operation)
• Controls are ergonomic and easy to use
• Brushless motor gives more speed and power than previous EEWs (max speed of 1,800 RPMs at the flyer)

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

We will be at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival May 4-5. If you’re attending there check out the booth.  We’ll have all our products there to try and buy:

• EEW 6.1
• EEW Nano 2
• EEW Cone Winder
• EEW Lazy Kate
• EEW Yarn Counter

See you there!  Don’t forget to come to the Spin In on Saturday evening.

Photo Winner

Last month I asked people to submit photos.  The response was tremendous.  I now have hundreds of photos that I’ll be slowly uploading to my Instagram page over time.  The randomly selected winner of an EEW 6.1 was Serena (@bassoonlady1).  Thanks for all the contributions!  

EEW 6.1 3D Printable Parts

I’ve released 3D printable files for the new parts coming with the EEW 6.1. This includes an updated bottom, the new arm support, and the improved yarn guides.  Go here to learn more about how to get 3D files printed.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Nano 2.1 – January 2025

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

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– Maurice Ribble
Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel

www.DreamingRobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to our newsletter for the Electric Eel Wheel.

April 01, 2024

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Submit a Photo – Chance to Win the EEW 6.1

I’m hoping the EEW 6.1 will start shipping early next month, and I want to give one away to someone in the community.  You can submit photos featuring my products (eSpinners, Yarn Counter, Cone Winder, Lazy Kate, …) or something made using one of my products.  I will randomly pick someone to win an EEW 6.1, and will ship it out to them before I ship an EEW 6.1 to anyone else.

I need more photos for my Instagram page, and I love sharing photos from people in this community!  If you want to participate with a chance to win an EEW 6.1 you can use this form to upload photos.

Maryland Fiber Festival

We will be at Maryland Fiber Festival May 4-5.  Our booth will be in Main A06.  This is going to be the first festival being run by Jessica.  She was a helper in many of my past booths, but this one she will be running.  She’s actually been attending festivals for way longer than I’ve been making eSpinners and knows all about my products.  I’m sure she will run the booth great.  Please show support by stopping by the booth.  I’m sad I can’t make this one, but it’s hard for me to justify the drive and I’m planning to put the time I save into making progress on some new products.

One of my favorite things at Maryland is the Spin In.  Last year it was on Saturday evening so definitely consider going to that if you attend.  We’ll be donating some door prizes and the mini competitions are awesome.  Perhaps my favorite from last year was the longest single you can spin in a minute while BLINDFOLDED!  I didn’t do it, but it was so much fun to watch.

New Products Verus Upgrade Kits

I know many of you want to see upgrade options when I release new versions of my products so you can get the improvements without having to buy a new whole product.  I like making the community happy, and kits are generally better for the planet since they reduce waste so I also want this.  However, my top priority is making the best products I can and sometimes that causes problems with doing upgrade kits.  In this section I will discuss the upgrade kits verus requiring new products to get the improved features.

I’ve done upgrade kits with the EEW Nano and EEW 5.x in the past.  However, I’m not offering an upgrade kit for the EEW 6.0 to EEW 6.1.  I want to explain why an upgrade kit doesn’t work well for the EEW 6.1.  The main problem is I made many small improvements to the EEW 6.1 and I’ve talked with many spinners about which changes are most important.  They just don’t agree.  There have been changes to the motor, other electronics, case, bobbins, and flyer.  That is basically all the major components.  So I would basically need to send out a full new eSpinner and there would not be any savings by ordering a kit.  I did consider offering lots of little upgrade kits, but that would be really confusing for users to know what to buy.  In the end my recommendation is that the EEW 6.1 is a nice upgrade, but if you’re happy with the EEW 6.0 and you don’t see any must have features on the EEW 6.1 then just keep your EEW 6.0 and be happy with that.  I personally don’t see any massive reasons to upgrade.  If you’ve been out of the loop and are wondering what the changes from the EEW 6.0 to the 6.1 are, then here is a video I made several months ago about that.

A project I haven’t announced yet is an upgrade for the EEW Nano 2 that I’m calling the EEW Nano 2.1.  I’ll share more details about that in the future, but it will include a new flyer, a better tension system, better bobbins, and a few other things.  For this one I will be offering a low cost upgrade kit because the electronics and case are being left largely unchanged.  So for that case an upgrade kit really well.

My point here is while I’d like to always offer upgrade kits, sometimes upgrade kits just aren’t practical.  Deciding to do these kinds of upgrades will be made on a case by case basis for me, but when I think a kit makes sense then I plan to make it available.  While I’m sure this isn’t ideal for everyone, I just want to be open and let you know my thought process on this complex topic.

Level Winding System Update

Another question I get is when will I have a level winding system and will it work with my current eSpinner?  This is basically a request for an upgrade kit.  I’ve talked about a level winding system for the EEW Pro back in this video.  I’ve made some progress on that, but this whole EEW Pro project is taking me a lot more time than I expected.  I will complete it eventually, but I still have no idea on when that will be (other than that it’s still years from shipping).  For that project a level winding system that works better than anything else out there is one of my two top priorities.  While doing work for this I’ve realized I probably can’t integrate a level winding system that I’m happy with onto any of my existing eSpinners without big changes.  Right now I’m focusing on getting a really good level winding system into this future EEW Pro.  Once I have that I’ll look to see if it can reasonably be fit into an existing eSpinner like the EEW 6.x.  Based on what I know now I’d probably say I can’t make a version I’ll be happy with that works with the EEW 6.x, but I do play to try once I have a known working level winding system.

Website Work

I am planning to move hosting services soon for my website.  While doing this I’ll be cleaning up a lot of things on my website.  Most of this you probably won’t notice.  I’m just letting people here know in case things go wrong you can let others know.  While I’m hoping you don’t have to do this, for some people to get it working correctly after this you might need to clean the cookies out of your browser (you can search for how to do this online if it’s needed).  A smooth migration will be that I stop accepting orders for a few hours, the site goes down, and then appears again without any noticeable changes other than that it’s faster.  If things go terribly wrong I can always go back to the original server until I figure out the problems.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW 6.1 – May 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

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– Maurice Ribble
Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

March 01, 2024

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Foldable eSpinner Brainstorming

I have been thinking about a new eSpinner that would be priced between the EEW Nano 2 and the EEW 6.1.  The bobbin size would be 4 ounces (100g) and it would be designed to have my fastest flyer speed (smaller design, but same motor as EEW 6.x).  It can also fold flat to make it ultra portable and to make removing the bobbin easier.  I’m also considering a few other features like a 4 digit screen to display the RPMs of the flyer.  Please watch the video and provide some feedback in the video’s comments if you haven’t already.

EEW 6.1 Update

I released a new quick getting started video for the EEW 6.1 which should be shipping in May.  A huge thanks to Vampy who filmed it.  I also set up this page for it on my website.

If you are interested in tracking the container/ship it’s through Pacific Star and the B/L number is TBOS24010640.  I’ll keep you updated in this newsletter though.

Return Policy Discussion Results

Last month I sent out a survey asking for feedback.  77% of you thought I should limit returns with one return being the most popular option with 61%.  About 80% of people didn’t think I should be refunding or paying return shipping.  There was also a lot of great feedback.

Many of the comments were that people were concerned about refunds for defective products.  I didn’t explain this well in the poll, but that doesn’t apply because I always send out replacement parts for defective or damaged items for free during the longer warranty period.  However, I do sometimes get people saying they want to return defective products instead and what I find is well over half the time I check the products aren’t defective.  Instead of defects I suspect the people just aren’t using the item correctly, which is understandable.  Spinning can be difficult for some and it’s hard for new spinners to know if it’s a defective item or a technique issue.  My point here is that it’s difficult to explain an item isn’t defective to someone who said it is, and I don’t want to get into arguments with people about what defines defective.  The same desire to avoid arguments applies to defining a product as used or defining valid reasons for a return.  There were also lots of suggestions about doing returns per item category, but that adds a lot of complexity (see my restocking fee after the first return which helps with this).  In the end I decided to try to keep my policy as simple as possible without a lot of judgement calls by me so I’ll be allowing one free return just like before.

Could my policy be more fair if I made it more complex?  Yes, it probably could be.  However, explaining a more complex policy so customers would understand it would lead to confusion sometimes.  Also implementing a more complex policy would take more of my time.  So I decided to keep it simple.  I think the changes I’ve made to my return policy actually make it simpler than it was previously and also more fair, while likely costing me about the same as my previous policy.

There were many people who thought only one return was too strict so I’m going to change that.  Instead of limiting returns to one I will charge a restocking fee for returns after the first one (first return still has no restocking fee).  It will be 25%, but I’ll still be losing money.  However, I think this will help stop people from abusing my return policy multiple times because it will result in them sharing some of the loss with me.  I won’t need to change any of my prices to cover this since this kind of event will be very rare.

I tried to discuss this with paypal and unfortunately they won’t provide any feedback on my return policy.  They have their own refund process that is separate from mine (credit card companies also do this), but these policies do result in paypal taking funds from my account.  I agree to this so it is fair considering I opt into their service.  So if someone really wants to abuse my return policy and then take it to paypal they may still get the refund, but this is exceedingly rare (only happened to me once) so I’m not going to worry about it.  This is a time consuming process to file these claims with paypal so I suspect nobody will do it too many times.  I just need to let such things not bother me and remind myself when the occasional person does this it’s ok and just part of my cost of doing business.

To all those who said they were sorry for this being a problem, there is no need for that.  I’m super lucky to have a successful business doing what I want.  I am so fortunate that I don’t get many returns and I’m just trying to put together a system here that is as fair as I can make it given the constraints of my small business.  I see the average return rate on Amazon is estimated around 10% which is much higher than my return rate.  Certain categories like clothing have a 40% return rate there which is mind boggling to me.  I’m so fortunate to have such a great community.

I’ve updated my official return policy on my website with these changes.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW 6.1 – May 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

February 01, 2024

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EEW 6.1 Update

The EEW 6.1 assembly ran into an unexpected slowdown since the sliding hook oring manufacturer sent too few orings and we had to wait for more of those to be made and delivered.  It shows how even a single low cost part can delay production.  The good news is the EEW 6.1s in line and the container should be loaded on a ship on February 11th.  The container will take around three months to get to Boston.  I plan to start shipping them in May, but this still depends on no major shipping delays.  I will keep everyone here updated on when they are ready to ship to you.

(I generated this image using AI – sheep watching container ship at sunset)

Busy Shipping

In the newsletter last month, I announced the EEW Lazy Kate and EEW Cone Winder are in stock.  The response was crazy.  First my website crashed.  I use a scalable web server on Amazon’s cloud so I increased my web server resource allocation and fixed that.  Next, I received over 600 orders in the first few days, which is way more than I was expecting.  I found one retired friend who was willing to help so we worked over the weekend and got all the orders out in just two days.  It wasn’t how I expected to spend my weekend, but I wanted to get them shipped quickly so people wouldn’t be waiting any longer than needed.  A huge shout out to all of you supporters!  The main reason I’m able to keep my prices affordable is because so many of you love these fiber tools.  My two goals with this business are to grow the worldwide fiber community and to make a reasonable living for my family.  I’m accomplishing both of those.  Thanks!

Return Policy Review

I’ve had the same return policy in place for the past 6 years.  Back when I set it up I was having issues with a few users getting the same product multiple times and returning it.  While I don’t have any direct evidence of why this was happening, it did seem to happen around major fiber festivals so I wondered whether people were getting my wheels for those and then returning them.  I never sell returned items as new and don’t have time to refurbish them myself so I sell them for a fraction of their new value to a friend who refurbishes them and sells them as used.  Returns raise the prices for everyone else so I wanted to stop it.  While I considered a lot of options, the main ones I considered was adding a restocking fee or limiting the number of returns to one.  I decided there were legitimate reasons for a single return and as a customer I’d like to be able to do a single return without having to pay a restocking fee.  I do require returns to pay the return shipping mainly because it simplifies the return process for me since I don’t have to send them return labels which take time for me to make and sometimes people don’t have access to printers.

That is the current state of things.  I am committed to cleaning up the wording on my return page to make it more concise.  However, before I do that I wanted to see if the community had any thoughts so I’ve created a poll to get your feedback on what you think would be the best return policies to use in my store.  If you’re interested, please go fill out my survey here.  I’m fine making my return policy more generous, but I wanted to see what others thought since that would cause prices to increase (only a small amount since my return levels are much lower than big online retailers like Amazon see).

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW 6.1 – May 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to our newsletter for the Electric Eel Wheel.

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EEW Lazy Kate in Stock

We made  a new video about all the features of the EEW Lazy Kate.  Go check out the new video here.  While I’m obviously biased, I think it’s the best lazy kate in the world with extremely high marks for portability and affordability.  This new product has just gone for sale in my store.  I normally don’t give discounts on my store, but since I am not doing a Kickstarter for this item, I decided to give it a 10% discount in my store for the first few weeks it’s available.  After that it will go back to its normal price.  Go buy it now.

Both the EEW Lazy Kate and the EEW Cone Winder are scheduled to arrive at my warehouse on January 4th, and I will be shipping all the orders I get by next Monday.

EEW Cone Winder in Stock

The EEW Cone Winder is back in stock in my store.  The feedback I’ve been getting from thousands of users has been overwhelmingly positive.  I’m so happy this product has been helpful to so many yarn lovers!  If you want one you can purchase it now.

EEW 6.1 Improvements Video

I created this video to show a list of changes between the EEW 6.1 and EEW 6.0.  I’m hoping to get these before my May 2024 estimate below, but I don’t want to change that official date until I am more sure about the timeframe when they’ll actually arrive.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW 6.1 – May 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

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Limited EEW Cone Winders For Sale Now

I have about 200 extra EEW Cone Winders left after shipping all the pre-orders.  Hurry to my store quickly and you might be able to grab one.  If they are out of stock that means these are sold out and you’ll have to wait until the next batch arrives in January.  While I know it will be frustrating for those who miss these, I think it’s better to ship these before Christmas instead of waiting until I have enough for everyone.  When I get more in January and that will be enough for everyone who wants one then.

Drum Carder Prototype

Please watch this video showing my first prototype of an electric drum carder. 

Then fill out this survey to give me feedback that will help me make the next prototype better.

EEW Cone Winder Kickstarter Summary

As many of you know I use Kickstarter as a platform to let people pre-order my products at a discount for a limited time.  This helps me get the money to manufacture the first batch of my products and helps me better gauge interest so I know how many to order.  I generally order about twice as many as I pre-sell on Kickstarter, but this exact amount varies some because I want to fill out a shipping container (think semi truck load if you aren’t familiar with shipping container sizes).  Below are a bunch of some gaylords of outgoing EEW Cone Winders to Kickstarter backers.

For the EEW Cone Winder I sold so many with Kickstarter I needed to order two shipping containers.  The first one arrived and I’m sending most of them to my Kickstarter backers.  I had to ship around 1500 packages.  Even though I hired some help from Seven Hills (a local organization for individuals with developmental differences), it still keeps me very busy for a few weeks getting everything ready and then responding to people’s questions/issues so this is where most of my time this month went.

The next container of EEW Cone Winders is on its way and I’m expecting it to arrive in January.  If you want to track it you can use this site and enter the container number: msmu5407720.  If you look there, it’s estimating a delivery in the middle of December to Boston, but in my experience most containers have a few small delays.  Also I need to have it clear customs and then get trucked to my warehouse.  That is why I say January is when I’m really likely to start shipping these from my store.

This container also has the EEW Lazy Kate on it if you are waiting for those.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – January 2024
• EEW Lazy Kate – January 2024
• EEW 6.1 – May 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone who wants them.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

November 01, 2023

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Fiber Festivals

This past October, I attended the New York State Fiber Festival, in Rhinebeck, NY.  It was a great festival where I got to chat with many of you on this newsletter.  I recorded a video there and talked about a wide range of topics from future products to some changes in my Dreaming Robots business.  Watch that video here.

Next weekend (November 4-5) I will be at the Fiber Festival of New England, which is held at the Big E fairgrounds in Springfield, MA.  If you’re around make sure you stop by my booth and say hello.

EEW Cone Winder Update

I released a new video about the EEW Cone Winder here.  The first container of them is arriving at the Boston port very soon and I’m working on getting them to my warehouse.  I will be shipping them to Kickstarter backers soon.  After that, I’ll need to wait for another container to fill my online store.  Currently the shipping company is estimating the container with these will arrive in mid-December, but they have missed their delivery date on all recent containers so I am going to estimate these probably arrive until January, and I will open up my store orders and start shipping them as soon as I get them.

EEW Lazy Kate Release Voting

Last month we had a poll about the EEW Lazy Kate and I got a lot of useful feedback from people.  Thanks for your help!  Below are the results of the poll.  The reason I had this poll was because it wasn’t clear to me which of these two options to do.  Based on this feedback I’ll release the new Lazy Kate in my store when it’s ready with a discounted price for two weeks.

These will arrive with the second EEW Cone Winder container so I’m estimated these will ship to you in January.  As soon as they get to my warehouse I’ll start accepting orders, and then start shipping immediately.  I’ll keep everyone updated if there are any changes.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – January 2024
• EEW Lazy Kate – January 2024
• EEW 6.1 – Second Quarter 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server

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EEW Lazy Kate Release Plan Voting

Please vote at this poll to help me decide how to best release the new EEW Lazy Kate.  I’m trying to decide if I should release it directly to my store or run a short Kickstarter for it.

EEW 6.1 Update

I’m making a lot of incremental improvements in the next batch of the EEW 6.0 and will call it the EEW 6.1.  Some of the changes are the addition of a new switch to make the controls simpler, making the motor slightly faster, and some other changes to reduce vibrations.  Plus a lot of other things.  I’ll release a video about all the improvements in a few months.

I’ve nearly finalized the changes and have already reviewed the initial plastic mold updates and have some additional minor tweaks needed.  While I’m trying to get all this done as quickly as possible, it will be many months into 2024 before I have this new version in stock.  I expect to run out of EEW 6.0s soon so I’ll be out of EEW 6.x stock for several months.  Plan appropriately.  I’m hoping some people planning to get the EEW 6.0 can wait until the EEW 6.1 so that I can reduce the amount of time the EEW 6.x is out of stock.

Wanted Partner to Run Fiber Festivals

I’m looking for someone to partner with to run festivals.  Currently, I attend two of the largest festivals on the East Coast of the US (Rhinebeck and Maryland), plus another medium sized fiber festival in Springfield MA.  What I’m looking to do is find someone to completely run my booth for these festivals and potentially expand into other festivals.  My unique products can usually get me into festivals where it is difficult for new vendors to attend.  The work requires picking up products from my warehouse in Leominster MA using my trailer, setting up and taking down the festivals, running the booth during the festival, and then returning the trailer to my workshop.  This basically means you need to load/unload a lot of 40 pound boxes, stand on your feet all day, take sales, and address any other issues that show up during the festival.

I have a few festivals this fall that I’m hoping the candidate I select could assist me at these, then perhaps next spring you’d be able to start running festivals.  My goal here is to unload myself so I have more time to work on the part of this business I’m best at.  I’d probably still attend some of these festivals, but by not running the booth I’d have more flexibility to see the festivals myself and have longer talks with my community.

I’ve already got a few people I’ve worked with in the past that are potentially interested, but because this is a big long term change I wanted to see if there are any others in the community that think they would be good for this.  If you are interested please send me a brief email about why you think you’d be a good fit.  I will select a few to do phone calls and discuss how revenue sharing would work.  Candidates would need to be within driving distance of my Leominster, MA and able to drive long distances to the festivals.  The Maryland festival is about 8 hours drive from my warehouse.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023
• EEW Lazy Kate – December 2023
• EEW 6.1 – First half of 2024

I don’t accept pre-orders in my store, but when I get a batch of products there should be enough for everyone.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel
EEW Instagram Account
EEW Discord Server