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Tour de Fleece 2023

Every year there is a Tour de Fleece event that happens at the same time as the Tour de France bike race.  It is a fun time for spinners to celebrate this craft by setting personal spinning goals.  This year Vampy set up a team for the EEW Community and there was an amazing turnout in the Ravelry, Facebook, and Discord groups.  In total over 400 people participated.  Amazing! I’d like to give a huge thanks to Vampy for setting up and running this event.  I’ll be reminding people of this event next year to see if we can increase participation.  Below is a photo Kim sent from her TdF spinning.

3D Printed Cord Maker

I am giving away free 3D printable files for this cord maker I designed.  Watch the video to see how it’s assembled and used.

EEW Cone Winder

The first batch of EEW Cone Winders has been put on a boat and are on the way to my warehouse.  This is enough to fill all the rewards for the Kickstarter plus about 100 extras.  I have another batch of them that should hopefully arrive about a month later.  I’m still deciding if I will list those extra hundred on my store after shipping the Kickstarter orders or just wait until I have enough in stock to fill all the needs.  I’ll make that final decision later when I have a better idea of the exact dates.  But right now I should have the EEW Cone Winder in my store in November or December.

Summer Vacation

This one isn’t spinning related.

Last month my family and I went on a summer vacation to southern Mexico.  I know there are a lot of people out there that like a nice relaxing vacation to recharge, but that isn’t my family.  We like action and let the exercise/exhilaration recharge our minds.  On our vacation we did all sorts of things to scratch that itch.  I was very proud of my daughter when she conquered a fear by jumping off a 15 foot cliff into some water.  As a parent, it makes my heart mushy when I see her work through steps to attempt a challenging task to complete it.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023
• EEW Lazy Kate – December 2023

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 6.0 Lace Flyer

I released a high speed lace weight flyer for the EEW 6.0 as free 3D printable files.  Watch the video below to get more information about how it works.  The 3D printable files are here, and if you don’t have  a 3D printer this page shows how to have someone else make them for you.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – October 2023
• EEW Lazy Kate – October 2023

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

---

– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

View web version of this email

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

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EEW 6.0 Orifice Hook

I was thinking about possible orifice hook improvements and came up with the idea of using the slot on the side of the EEW 6.0.  I then created a 3D printable file to just experiment with sizing, and was surprised that it actually worked well made from plastic so I spent a little more time perfecting the fit and released the free 3D printable file here.  You flex it a little and it snaps into place and holds itself there.  If you don’t have a 3D printer, this page lists options on how to get these kinds of parts made.  I like giving away little things like this and hope some of you find them useful.  If you like it please leave a review on my Printables page above since it helps other people find the files I give away there.

Where I Spent Time This Month

My R&D time this month was pretty evenly split between the EEW Pro and a minor update to the EEW 6.0.

With the EEW Pro I’ve decided to design a new case.  I really wasn’t happy with the old one as it was really complex to mold and the way it fit together was never going to be great.  With this one I talked to my metal manufacturer and believe I can make some more parts out of aluminum.  This will improve the look and rigidity.  I’m also going to do a large update on the circuit board to fix a bunch of issues in the last version and make it fit into this new case design.  It would have been nice to get a little more time on the previous version, but I was running into some big limitations with it.  I did accomplish my major goals on that previous version of testing all hardware connected to the circuit board.  This new version will hopefully enable me to test out the motor software and the level winding system which are the two biggest obstacles remaining for this eSpinner.

The minor updates to the EEW 6.0 is a small list of tweaks that will make the EEW 6.0 a little better.  There is nothing too major, and don’t expect many will think it justifies buying the new version.  It’s more about fixing minor annoyances and improving reliability.  My plan is to incorporate those improvements into the next batch which will be the EEW 6.1.  I’ll talk more about this in the future when I can show what is changing, but I just wanted to give a heads up that this is coming.  I don’t really have  a timeframe for this yet, and it is possible I’ll make one more batch of the EEW 6.0 if these updates are going to take too long.  I will give another update here when I have a better idea of the timeframe.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – October 2023
• EEW Lazy Kate – October 2023

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

---

– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

View web version of this email

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

June 01, 2023

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EEW Pro Update

I made this video about the EEW Pro.  This product is still a few years away, but this video gives you an overview of what I’ve been working on so far.

Updates since the video… Based on the feedback I’ve received so far, I’ve already decided to make several changes. One of the suggestions was to test the LCD and OLED screens in the sun. The LCD screen performed much better in this case. I would also like to note that the LCD appeared washed out in the video because I had the backlight set to full brightness, but the backlight can be adjusted and even turned off. While I believe the OLED looks slightly better in dark environments, considering that the LCD performs significantly better in bright environments, I will probably go with the LCD. Based on the feedback, I will remove the weight sensors. I also received numerous other suggestions that I will try out, and I will share the ones that work out in the next prototype. Please continue to provide feedback, as the ideas I receive help me improve the eSpinner.

I’m collaborating with a small group of designers to determine the general design shape for my next prototype.  It would be a huge help if you could vote here so I can spend time on the better design!

My Awesome Maryland Fiber Festival Adventure

Last month, I embarked on an unforgettable adventure to the renowned Maryland Fiber Festival, and oh boy, was it a blast! The festival buzzed with excitement as fiber lovers from all walks of life gathered to celebrate their shared passion.

For two delightful days, I proudly manned my booth, showcasing the marvels of my eSpinners and the fabulous EEW Cone Winder. Enthusiastic visitors of all ages, ranging from sprightly 3-year-olds to wise 97-year-olds, flocked to my demos, eager to explore the world of spinning.

However, the true highlight of the festival was the extraordinary “Spin-In” event. Picture this: a gathering of spinning wheel aficionados, interesting conversations, and laughter filling the air. It was a spinning paradise!

To add to the merriment, the organizers arranged a series of captivating competitions. I couldn’t help but be amazed by the creativity and skill on display. One particular contest had participants vie for the longest strand of yarn in just one minute, while blindfolded! The crown for the blindfolded yarn champion was claimed by none other than the incredible EEW 6 spinner, Juliet! What a feat!

If you’re ever lucky enough to attend the Maryland Fiber Festival, mark your calendars for the “Spin-In” event. You won’t want to miss the camaraderie, the door prizes, and, of course, the enchanting competitions. Trust me, it’s a fiber lover’s dream come true.

I’m already planning my return to this haven of fiber festivities next year.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – October 2023
• EEW Lazy Kate – October 2023

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

---

– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

View web version of this email

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

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Maryland Fiber Festival

On May 6th and 7th I’ll be at the 50th Maryland Fiber Festival!  It will be the first festival in a long time where I’ll have all my products there to sell, and of course we’ll have demos so anyone can try our eSpinners.  I’ll also be showing the final version of the EEW Cone Winder, but won’t have those for sale until later this year.  I’ll be at booth A06 in the Main Exhibition Hall so come and say hi if you plan on attending.

EEW Cone Winder

Many of you backed the Kickstarter for the EEW Cone Winder, but if not I will be selling them on my store right after I finish shipping them to all the Kickstarter backers.  This item was so popular I need two 40 ft shipping containers to get them all here.  While the current plan is to ship by December things have been progressing great and I’m hopeful I’ll be shipping them a little earlier than that.  I will keep everyone updated on the shipping time frame when I’m more sure about it.

This past month I’ve spent most of my time working on logistics for the EEW Cone Winder.  The foot pedal supplier had too many delays so I switched to another factory for those.  I’ve also been correcting a few yield issues with fitting the circuit boards into the case by increasing some of my tolerances.  These are all normal manufacturing issues and I’ve allocated time for these things.  I used to think once I had a prototype I was happy with I could just get it made in a factory, but after doing this many times I now know the prototype is often only half my effort.  That said, the prototype stage is the most variable since it’s hard to know how many prototype versions I need before the design is good enough to ship.  Once I have a prototype that I’m happy with I can generally estimate how long it will take to work through all the issues and get it manufactured.

Here is the final version of the EEW Cone Winder

Ravelry Group Growth

For those who don’t know Ravelry is a social website designed for knitters, spinners, and all fiber lovers.  You have to join (it’s free) to view groups, but I set up an EEW Ravelry group for this community to chat.  I really love how friendly people are there.  Some people discuss issues, others share tips for their EEW, and others share their latest projects.  The reason I’m mentioning it is I just noticed we passed 6,000 members and are in the top 2% of groups on Ravelry.  I looked through a list of all the popular groups on Ravelry and there is only one fiber tool branded group ahead of the EEW.  If we get about 200 more members we’ll pass the Ashford Spinners group and be the biggest group of branded fiber tools on Ravelry.  That’s amazing!

Lazy Kate

I’ve made a video giving an update on the new Lazy Kate I’m making.  I’m quite impressed with all the improvements so go check out that video if you haven’t seen it yet!

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023

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

---

– 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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Does anyone know of a way to find an estimate of Spinning Wheels (ideally eSpinners) sold in the US or around the world each year?  I’m curious about this.  Back when I worked in big tech there were industrial publications you could buy with this data for all sorts of different markets, but I understand the fiber tools world is much smaller so it might not have that kind of data.  I have already tried a lot of internet searching and asking the Handweaver’s Guild of America.  Neither of these yielded any useful information.

Wanted: Visual Product Design Help

I am looking for a creative individual with an artistic eye to help with product designs.  I would share photos of functional designs and request hand sketches of changes that could be made to make it look more visually appealing.  If you have experience in industrial design and want to give feedback on my designs and ways to improve their functionality that would be a bonus.  I’m willing to pay for this service or give you free hardware.  If you are interested in this position, send me a short description of your qualifications and what you would want out of the collaboration.  I don’t have any immediate projects, but am looking for a person I can come to with future designs.

EEW Nano 2 Suction Cup Locks

I created a 3D printable part that locks the suction cups on the EEW Nano 2 in place so they don’t accidently fall off.  I provide free files to 3D print these parts here.  If you don’t have access to a 3D printer, I have a page explaining different ways to get these parts made.

Update on Drum Carder and CSM

I’ve been conducting high-level research on what features would make sense for a circular sock machine (CSM) and a drum carder. The CSM is a much larger project, and although I’ve spent about the same amount of time on each, the drum carder plans are much farther along. So, I am planning to focus more on the drum carder for a while to see if I can get an initial prototype that I’m happy with. I have already been talking to some factories that seem like they could set up a production line to make carding cloth at a price that would allow me to make an affordable motorized drum carder. Beyond that, I have many possible features I’m considering and trying to determine which ones can be included at a price point that makes sense. I’ll have more information about this when I have a prototype and am to start collecting community feedback, which I’m hoping will be sometime this summer.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023

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

---

– 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, 2023

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Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

I was accepted as a vendor for the first time to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on May 6-7th!  I would like to find a local helper who can help give demos at my booth on both days of my EEW Nano 2 and EEW 6.0.  I try to keep a simple booth where I let people sell my products and let anyone who wants to try them.  I don’t expect any kind of high pressure sales talk, I like to run a chill booth and just let the products sell themselves.  The perfect candidate would have some experience demoing spinning wheels to people, and would be happy demoing at my booth both days.  I am planning to pay $25 per hour and you would get a free pass to the festival.  If you are interested, respond to this email with your experience, your phone number, and why you think you’d be a good candidate.

If you are attending, this is the first time I’ll ever be giving away my free large reusable shopping bags.  These are basically those reusable plastic grocery bags, but with my logos on them.  So be sure to stop by and get one.  I got these as a way to advertise at festivals, but I should have some extras so after I see how successful they are at the festival I’ll sell some at a reasonable price online.  I’ll have more about that in a future newsletter after the Maryland festival.

EEW Photo Contest

Wow, the interest in this contest last month was amazing.  It was so difficult for us to limit the images down to a number that was reasonable for the community to vote on, and then the voting was very close.  Here are the winning photos and the winners of the random drawing.

The first place winner was Melanie Allaire with the photo below.

Second and third place winners were Kate Nicholls and Christine Dotson.  The randomly selected winners were Marci Rheinschild, Elaine Lo, and Sue Schier.  I’ve already sent these people information on how to get their prizes.  I will be posting the photos that were submitted to my instagram account over time so subscribe there if you want to see more.  I’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone who submitted photos to this contest.  It was a ton of fun looking over them, and I’m sure many more people will like seeing all the varied photos as I share them online.

EEW Nano 2 Uptake Improvements

If you are looking for ways to improve uptake on your EEW Nano 2 then I created this video explaining a few options.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023

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

---

– 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

We are spinning the world one thread at a time.

EEW Photo Contest

Are you ready to showcase your creativity and put your EEW tools in the spotlight? I want to see your best photos and share them with the world. Plus you have a chance to win free EEW gear!

Photos of any of my eSpinners or the EEW Yarn Counter are welcome.  Show off how you use them, and what you’ve made with them. Be creative, and submit your most beautiful/interesting photos. If you can’t decide which of several photos to submit, that’s okay, submit them all!

There are two types of prize pools: random and contest.  Any photo you enter will be automatically entered into both prize pools.  I wanted everyone to have a chance to win a prize, but I also wanted to motivate people to take the time to submit their best photos.  First three people will be randomly selected to get an EEW Yarn Counter.  Second there is a contest portion where some of our favorite photos will be selected and then the community will vote on those for their three favorites.  For the contest portion the grand prize is an EEW 6, and the other two will get an EEW Nano 2.  All the prizes can be converted to an equivalent value of gift certificate for my Dreaming Robots store if you prefer.

To enter, please complete this short form (google account required).

If you are unable to submit your entry via the form, you may email your photograph to EEWvampy@gmail.com. Please include 1) your name (for credit) 2) your Instagram handle if you have one 3) Any description or other information you would like to share about the photograph 4) The sentence “I give Dreaming Robots permission to use the photograph I have submitted for advertising purposes, including posting on social media.”

The deadline for submission of photos is February 12th.  A poll for you to vote on the contest winners will run February 20-23.  Links on where to vote will be posted on February 20th to our Facebook group, Ravelry group, and Discord server.  The winners will be announced in next month’s newsletter.

A huge thanks to Vampy for helping run this contest.

Product Poll Results

I want to thank everyone for the huge response to the Future Product polls last month.  Below are the results.

1. Circular Sock Knitting Machine (CSM) (60%)
2. Electric Drum Carder (47%)
3. Electric Ball Winder (40%)
4. Electric Skein Winder (31%)
5. Portable Treadle Spinning Wheel (18.2%)
6. Jumbo eSpinner (14%)
7. Programmable Braiding Machine (10%)

I would like to do all of these, but I just don’t have time to do everything so I need to prioritize the projects.  What I think I’ll do is start working on the CSM and the Electric Drum Carder (priority is lower than the EEW Pro and Cone Winder so these will be a long ways off).  I’m not sure which I’ll do first, but I’ll investigate both of these in my free time and try to figure out which one to do first based on a bunch of factors.

Lazy Kate Update

I’m working on a new version of my Lazy Kate.  Here is a video that discusses the improvements over my previous Lazy Kate.

EEW Nano 2 Foot Pedal

I made a video about how to add a foot pedal to your EEW Nano 2.  Check it out here if you missed it.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023

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

---

– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

View web version of this email

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

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It’s a new year and here is an update on where I’m at with my current projects. 

This first project isn’t a new product, but is inventory management.  I want to get more people into fiber arts by making affordable fiber tools.  To do this my tools need to be in stock and last year many were out of stock for large parts of the year.  I’m happy to say all my current products are now in stock (EEW 6.0, EEW Nano 2, EEW Yarn Counter).  Going forward I’m going to try and keep things in stock.

The EEW Cone Winder is going to be my next new product and I’m working hard to get it ready for manufacturing.  Right now, I’m targeting shipping in December 2023, but if things go decently during manufacturing it will hopefully beat that date.  That said, manufacturing and shipping delays are much more common these days than they were a few years ago so I’m going to leave the target date as December for now until I get farther along in the process.  This is my top priority work, but so much of it depends on my manufacturing partners that I don’t spend a lot of my time working on this.

I’ve also mentioned the EEW Pro in this email newsletter in the past.  It’s meant to be a more expensive and higher end eSpinner with lots of new features, some never seen in an eSpinner before.  I still don’t have a working first prototype of this, but significant progress has been made on both electronics and mechanical parts.  There is just so much new stuff that I’ll need to spend lots of time figuring out what to include and what should be dropped to make it the best eSpinner possible.  I still think this is probably two years away and is a massive project.  It’s still even possible that if some of the most important features don’t work really well that I could just drop this whole project, but right now most likely it will get released eventually.  I’m also thinking some of the new technologies I’m researching might migrate down into updates for my other eSpinners.

A new project I just started working on is an updated version of my Lazy Kate.  If you have experience with Lazy Kates and want to help go fill out my Lazy Kate poll with some questions about the improvements I should make.  This is the same poll I put on Ravelry and Facebook last week so if you already filled it out there is no need to do it again.

Future Product Poll

I have a long product pipeline and to keep myself busy so even though I’m busy right now I want to figure out what I should be looking at next.  One way I often come up with really creative solutions is by letting ideas sit in the back of my head and put a few hard hours of thinking about them each week.  It lets me take a fresh perspective at the problem each week.  I have a very long list of possible projects, and I’ve narrowed those down to a smaller list that you can vote on here.  I will use the interest expressed in this poll to help me determine what project I should work on next so please vote here on what projects you’d like me to do next.

Custom Bobbin Generator

There are already 3D printable bobbins for all my eSpinners online, but I often get requests for files for other types of spinning wheels that have expensive bobbins.  To help these people I created a file that can generate bobbins to fit different spinning wheels.  You just need to measure your bobbins and enter in those parameters.  You can access the 3D printable files here, or I made a video that gives more of an overview.  While I don’t get a direct benefit from these projects, I like to do things that I think benefit a lot of people.  Basically I’m giving up a small amount of my time to give others a big benefit so it’s a net win to humanity (this is how my engineering brain calculates a lot of things).  If you or your friends were looking for 3D printable bobbins for some other spinning wheel now you have these.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023

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

---

– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

View web version of this email

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

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It’s a busy time for me.  I’ve been a vendor at a few fiber festivals (more on this later).  The EEW Nano 2s have just arrived and when a new product arrives I spend long days at my warehouse shipping orders.  With over 3000 EEW Nano 2s to ship that is a lot of time spent on shipping.  I’ve also been finalizing parts for the EEW Cone Winder so I can start the manufacturing process, and I’ve been working on some new products that I’ll talk about in some future newsletters.

EEW Nano 2 is in Stock!

I am finishing shipping the EEW Nano 2 Kickstarter preorders so I’ve just opened up my store for new orders of the EEW Nano 2. If you’ve been waiting for the EEW Nano 2 then now is the time to place an order.  I expect a lot of orders, but I should be able to ship any order within a few days of receiving it.

Storage Bobbins

I created some free 3D printable files for storage bobbins. I tried to make them better than any other storage bobbin out there. They are available in 2, 4, 8, and 16 oz sizes by default, but I also included the Fusion 360 files so people can make other sizes if none of those work for you. Check out this video for more details.

If you don’t have a 3D printer, I don’t sell these parts, but others do. I explain options for having others print these for you here.  I like to give away parts like this from time to time just to help out the community so I hope some of you fine this useful.

Fiber Festival of New England

I was a vendor at the Fiber Festival of New England last month.  It was a huge amount of fun.  I get to talk with people from the EEW community, give demos of my products to all sorts of people, and talk with other vendors some of whom might want to sell EEW products.

One of the highlights for me is giving demos of my eSpinners.  An especially memorable moment was an older grandma who was walking by my booth and I asked if she wanted to try an eSpinner.  She said that she’d try it but wasn’t really interested because she preferred her treadle wheels.  About 20 seconds later she decided she loved it and wanted to buy one.  I didn’t have any stock, but she is now on this newsletter and is waiting for the EEW 6 to get in stock.

Product Updates

Below are estimates and the dates may change.

• EEW Nano 2 – Now in stock!
• EEW 6.0 – Shipping in late December 2022
• EEW Cone Winder – December 2023

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

---

– 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