[Fleecewife]

If they get very dry, the cross bars of your niddy-noddy twist round when you start winding; you can use ptfe tape to tighten the joints.  Take the cross bars off, wind the tape on the male part of the joints and push them firmly back together.   I used to use bagpipe hemp, but ptfe is now easier to get.
 
If this doesn't mean anything to you - you're in the wrong section 

[SallyintNorth]

Good tip, FW 

I use spare bits of singles as packers, too.  Works much the same as ptfe and always to hand! 

[quiltycats]

If they get very dry, the cross bars of your niddy-noddy twist round when you start winding; you can use ptfe tape to tighten the joints.  Take the cross bars off, wind the tape on the male part of the joints and push them firmly back together.   I used to use bagpipe hemp, but ptfe is now easier to get.
 
If this doesn't mean anything to you - you're in the wrong section 

OOops I'd probably have dabbed a spot of wood glue on.
Something I resorted to doing the other evening when while merrily plying singles together suddenly the wool wouldn't wind on..

 :thinking:A puzzled examination of Scotch tensions and wheel bands revealed no obvious cause 

Then it struck me  check the actual bobbin!!

sure enough I had managed to kill maim the bobbin so that its end had fallen off  Obviously over worked the poor old thing.


wee dab of wood glue and it is all a happy ending.

 

[SallyintNorth]

Glueing end of bobbin is the correct solution, yes    End of bobbin meant to stay put on end of bobbin shaft!

Arms of niddy noddy are meant to be removable / twistable, so you can slide the skein off and so that you can transport or store the niddy  noddy flat.  So glue not an ideal solution.

[Bionic]

Oh Fleecewife, pity you didn't post this sooner.  One arm on my niddy noddy had broken so OH replaced it yesterday and glued it in place 
Still, todate i have never needed to take the arm out so I guess it won't be a problem for me 
Sally

[jaykay]

I use singles for this sort of things too - I can never find the PTFE tape 

[Fleecewife]

Oh Fleecewife, pity you didn't post this sooner.  One arm on my niddy noddy had broken so OH replaced it yesterday and glued it in place 
Still, todate i have never needed to take the arm out so I guess it won't be a problem for me 
Sally

As long as one arm rotates it doesn't matter if the other is fixed      That way you can store it flat.

[Fleecewife]

I use singles for this sort of things too - I can never find the PTFE tape 

I have an OH who is not happy unless the right tool is used for the job.  I grew up with a father and grandfather who were bodgers (not in the lovely pole lathe sense, but in the 'why use the proper thing when I can find something which will do' sense).  All our pictures were hung with bits of old mismatched wire, never long enough for the job, so several tied together.   Watching my Dad change the washer on the tap was always hilarious as he wouldn't bother to turn the water off first.......
I have been totally converted to my OHs way of thinking 

[Lesley Silvester]

My ex bought me a niddy noddy when \i first started spinning then, as he took over the spinning while I did the weaving, he was using it all the time.  He used to dump in on top of whatever fleece he was working on then end up stepping on it and breaking it so he was forever shaping the end of the middle section.  It ended up nearly half the length it should have been so was no use for calculating the length on a skein unless I measured the niddy noddy every time.

Incidentally, why are they called niddy noddies?  I was taught an old rhyme which was "Niddy noddy, niddy noddy, all head and no body" because when you were winding the wool onto it resembled a horse's head nodding.

[SallyintNorth]

When you see them used by an experienced spinner it's quite obvious why they're called niddy noddies - a brilliant name!

[Mel Rice]

Both my middy noddys have one arm that has no little lip on the end...so the skien slides off this arm first. It was annoying at first as it always fell off but I'm used to it now.

[Fleecewife]

Both my middy noddys have one arm that has no little lip on the end...so the skien slides off this arm first. It was annoying at first as it always fell off but I'm used to it now.

Er.....it's meant to be like that, otherwise you can't get the skein off once you've wound it 

[Shnoowie]

Good tip!
I bought a niddy noddy off the bay of e's.  I think it was £10 and it was hand turned by the sellers father - lovely thing, but as FW has said, one end tends to drop off.  Out with the tape!

[Alistair]

My end has now dropped off completely, I did everything you said, I wrapped ptfe tape around my male part, and then tried to forcibly push it, now I must admit this was slightly sore at first, anyway I have, as suggested glued it all back together and stuck a bobbin on the end, much happier now....


Mind I've never heard it referred to as a niddy noddy before, but you learn something new everyday

[Bionic]

Alistair, are we talking about the same thing?  You don't put a bobbin on a niddy noddy. The niddy noddy is for winding your yarn onto once it has been spun onto the bobbin in order to make a skein or ball of wool.
Sally