Category: Uncategorized

July 05, 2020

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Welcome to the July 2020 edition of the Electric Eel Wheel Newsletter.  Last month some people had issues reading the newsletter and others got two copies.  I’m really sorry about those issues.  I’ve tried to fix them with this month’s letter, but if you are having issues let me know.

It’s been a very busy month for me.  Here is what I’ve been up to…

EEW 6.0

The EEW 6.0 Kickstarter campaign ended on June 20th.  I’ve had a lot of people asking me after it closed how they join the Kickstarter, and unfortunately that isn’t possible.  I do the Kickstarter to figure out how many EEW 6.0 e-spinners I should order in the first batch from my manufacturing partners and to get the funds early so I can afford to order a big batch.  A big batch really helps keep the price lower.  If you missed out on the Kickstarter you can sign up for an in stock email notification for the EEW 6.0 by clicking the “Join Waitlist” button on my website.  They will be in stock after I ship the EEW 6.0 to all the Kickstarter backers, which I’m estimating will be around February.  I should have enough to meet demand since I am making a lot more than I needed for the Kickstarter backers.

I am working on some mold updates and then getting second set of samples of the EEW 6.0 plastic parts.  Most of the molds were updated to fix things ranging from cosmetic issues to improving fit.  I even had a new mold made to try out an improved hook design which I love.  I made an update on my Kickstarter page with more details about the current manufacturing status of the EEW 6.0.

I have not yet gotten the funds from Kickstarter, but I should be getting them in the next week.  When I get these funds I will start finalizing my orders for some of the parts.

EEW Nano Quill

I designed a free 3D printable quill for the EEW Nano.  For those not familiar with a quill it basically allows you to spin in a new way on your EEW Nano.  Instead of the yarn going on the bobbin it works more like a drop spindle and puts the yarn on a stick.  Hopefully some of you with EEW Nanos will try out this new method of spinning yarn and let me know what you think.  You can check out a video for more information about this video.

Future Projects

I know there is a lot of interest from people about the EEW Yarn Counter.  I have finished all the design updates for the plastic case, circuit board, and custom keypad.  I’m working on making a new prototype based on all these updates, but it takes awhile to get these custom parts made.  While this is happening I’m working on several software updates to make it more usable.  Hopefully in 1-2 months I’ll have a some prototypes that are much closer to final and will start doing more real world testing with different types of yarn.  I will keep people updated on this project.

The level winding cone winder is something I have also spent a little time working on.  I think I’ve come up with a much more manufacturable level winding drum design.  It is actually requiring me to do a lot of new techniques in CAD to design the part so it’s been a fun learning experience for me.  If I get something working here I will be sure to share it with you, but currently this is still in the proof of concept stage.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel

June 16, 2020

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Welcome to our first monthly Electric Eel Wheel (EEW) newsletter. In the past I’ve sent out emails to this group about twice a year when I had a major new product to announce. I’ve been getting a lot of requests from the community saying it is difficult to follow the news on the EEW Facebook and Ravelry groups due to increased traffic there. I can understand that so I’ll be sending out a monthly newsletter with big new announcements for the EEW community and a summary of the most interesting news from the past month. If you are not interested in these updates, you can just unsubcribe at the bottom of this email and you’ll be removed from this list.

Electric Eel Wheel 6

The biggest news for this past month has been the kickstarter for the Electric Eel Wheel 6.0. This is my new larger, high speed, travel friendly e-spinner. The Kickstarter for this is closing in a few days (this Saturday at 11:00 AM ET) so if you haven’t seen it go and look at the Kickstarter page for the EEW 6.0. There is a short video on the top that gives a good overview about this new wheel. If you are still trying to decide whether to support it, the EEW 6.0 Kickstarter updates show my commitment to this project with many updates during the past month ranging from free 3D printable parts to detailed explainations of features where the community requested more information.

I have been releasing a lot of videos recently on my youtube channel. All of them have been about the EEW 6.0 this month. If you want to see if you’ve missed any go check my youtube spin playlist. One particular video worth watching compares the EEW Nano 1.1 to the EEW 6.0.

Next Month

The focus next month will be moving fotward with the EEW 6.0 to keep that project on track. I’m expecting to have a good progress update for it. Any extra time that I have will be spent on the next prototype for the EEW Yarn Counter project. If you don’t know about this Yarn Counter I’ve created a video about my last prototype here.

That’s all for this month.

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– Maurice Ribble
(Inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel)

www.dreamingrobots.com
EEW Facebook Group
EEW Ravelry Group
EEW Youtube Channel

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It is a beautiful new e-spinner that works great for both new and experienced spinners. If you haven’t spun yarn before, but you are interested in making your own yarn then this is an affordable e-spinner that makes it easy to learn spinning. If you are an experienced spinner then this is a fast, quite, and travel friendly e-spinner with large 8 ounce bobbins that will make you more productive.

Check out the Kickstarter for this project for more many more details on the improvements this new e-spinner it offers.

Below are some images you can use on blog or social media posts.

Dreaming Robots launched a new electric spinning wheel on Kickstarter.  There are lots of spinning wheels that spin wool into yarn, but this one is extraordinary in several ways.

First it has a beautiful design and solid feel.  This design not only looks great, but it’s open nature is helpful as it lets people see their yarn while they spin it.

Secondly it has been designed to help make spinning easier for new spinners.  The lower price and simple to use features makes it great for people learning to spin.

Lastly it is designed to be the ultimate travel spinning wheel.  It’s small, lightweight, and durable design when combine with it running off a USB port makes it great for spinning with friends anywhere.

In this age when people are trying to get more connected to nature spinning is a great hobby since it lets you make yarn from animal and plant fibers.  Then using a pair of knitting needles you can make that into some clothing.  This is called going from sheep to shawl.  The Electric Eel Wheel Mini is a great spinning wheel to help you do this.

For more information visit the Electric Eel Wheel Mini 2 Kickstarter.

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Spinning is about taking animal fibers such as wool and twisting it into yarn.  It’s a great hobby that helps you appreciate making something.  Something as simple as a pencil would be nearly impossible for a single person to make, but you can take a sheep fleece spin that into yarn, and then knit that into mittens or a sweater.  Spinning is a very fulfilling hobby.

Learning how to spin different animal and plant fibers into yarn is easy.  It generally takes only a few minutes to gets started, but you can spend a lifetime perfecting some of the more advanced techniques.  This guide will focus on teaching people how to get started.

There are three major ways people learn to spin today.  Electric spinning wheels, treadle spinning wheels, and drop spindles.  Drop spindles won’t be covered by this guide, but there are many other guides out there if you want to look into it.

Many people will learn on a treadle wheel, but electric spinning wheels are becoming more popular now that affordable options like the Electric Eel Wheel exist.  Learning on an electric spinning wheel is easier because you don’t need to coordinate your feet and hands since a little motor handles spinning the wheel for you.  Otherwise learning to spin on electric or treadle wheels is very similar and this guide should work for both of those.

The basic steps to get started spinning are to attach a lead yarn to your bobbin and guiding it through your spinning wheel.  Then you start spinning your wheel to add twist to your fiber (or rovings), and let it feed onto your bobbin.  Then you must constantly monitor the yarn going onto the bobbin to make sure it has the right amount of twist.  Below is a short video that shows these steps in more detail.

After spinning that you have what is called “singles”.  This means your yarn is a single strand.  Many people will then ply the yarn together.  There are different ply techniques, but the simplest is to just reverse the direction of your wheel and spin two bobbins of singles yarn onto a third bobbin.  The reason you must reverse the direction of your wheel is so that you don’t untwist the yarn when plying it together.  Here is a video that explains plying in more detail.

Hopefully that was helpful in learning the basics of spinnings.  If you want more info here are some links:

• Free videos on youtube that teach you more about how to spin
• Craftsy has paid online classes on learning to spin and more advanced spinning techniques

Go to Electric Eel Wheel Store