[Welshcob]

Finally managed to go visit the in-laws and picked up my spinning wheel!     

It is an Ashford traditional, very dusty after almost 20 years in the attic but comes with all bits and pieces and spare bobbins, lazy kate, carders! Even a niddy noddy (home made with 2 cut pieces of broom stick!)

Any suggestions to bring it up to working order again is very welcome - it definitely needs some oil 

Think I will try to go along to the next local guild meeting but in the meantime, who knows where I could buy a hook to thread the yarn through the spinning mechanism (what's the name of that part?!?  )

Thanks!

[Fleecewife]

Ooh that's great you've got your wheel 
 
Yes, oil seems the answer. Initially, use it every time you use your wheel, then just every few days.  I got a little spray can of gun oil from Wingham Wool Works which shouldn't leave any horrible sticky deposits.  They also sell the hook to pull the yarn through the orifice - make sure you get a sturdy one, as the posher ones tend to be too bendy.
 
Something else which will help make your wheel run smoothly is a plastic drive band, which Wingham sell for a couple of pounds.  You just need to tell them your wheel make and model.

 
I've searched and searched on the freeby emoticon sites for a spinning wheel icon, but no luck - so please just imagine one 

[SallyintNorth]

great news!   Mainly oil all the moving joints - search youtube "ashford traditional maintenance" to have richard ashford show you how and where; candle wax is good at ends of treadle bar. Will post more help when back on 'puter. Enjoy!

[jaykay]

Yay 

As Sally and Fleecewife say, oil the moving bits - 3 in 1 will do. Oil a lot, then spin/treadle and wipe off the dribbles. Keep repeating. Personally I just use 3in1 on the treadle too.

And a coat of Danish oil on the wood will stop the wood drinking the lubricating oil up so fast it can't do its job, plus making it look pretty :-) As long as no muggle has varnished it, but probably not.

You can buy the Ashford maintenance kit online (www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk are good) which has a new spring for the bobbin brake band, spinning wheel oil (which I would use once you've got it working) and a new drive band. 

That hook is called an orifice hook - doesn't sound polite but there you are 

If you ring Wingham and tell them what you're doing they will help, a lot. As Fleecewife says they will help you work out what model you've got too - basically depends on the number of 'whorls' on your flyer (the bit with the arms).

Definitely take it to your Guild. That will save you months of time and frustration, having experienced folk help. And join Ravelry 

Have fun 

[Bionic]

There will be no stopping you now and I am sure you will be completely hooked in no time.
If the wheel hasn't been used in a long while you may also find that some of it is a bit loose. Mine just needed tightening up all round with allen keys. The whole thing felt much more solid once I had done that.
The guild sounds a good idea and my local club has been a great help.
Enjoy
Sally

[Dans]

Woohoo! You're welcome to use my repair kit until you get your own. Let me know if you order a kit, I'm after some more tops.

Where do you get the Danish oil JayKay?

Dans

[jaykay]

Our local 'ironmongery/DIY' place sells Danish oil. Certainly the big DIY chains will keep it.

[Dans]

Thanks I'll have a nosey at my homebase!

Dans

[Lesley Silvester]

Good news.  I'm sure you'll have loads of fun with it.

[SallyintNorth]

How's it going with the wheel, WC? 

You'll have realised you can make a temporary orifice hook with a large paper clip.

[Welshcob]

It's going quite well - giving my limited experience I'm amazed I managed to spin a little and actually start it almost by myself (OH "did" do some dusting but not enough IMO).

I borrowed Dans's Ashford maintenance kit and for the moment I have been putting their oil but I think I'll give a go at another suggestion (the one to avoid sticky bits on the wood, I'll go back the thread and read the name again).

I'm on holiday tomorrow so I will contact Wingham and try to work out exactly what I need, I'll also take a pic and post it here. I think I will need a new drive band as the one I have now is a piece of orange electric-fence type of string!!! Big knot in it as you can imagine 

Also there's one slight issue with the bobbin/flyer system, as it seems that the bobbin "follows" the flyer and doesn't wind the yarn onto itself, just leaves it to become longer and longer in my hands.
I had to give it a massive clean as there was years and years of lanolin/dirt/general rubbishness on the metal stick that holds the bobbin and that made it stuck. Now I cleaned it and it shines again, I put oil but think it will take some use to loosen more.

And thanks so much to all of you for advice (keep it coming!) and Dans for lending me the kit and her wheel's orifice hook - I need one of mine now 

If the wheel hasn't been used in a long while you may also find that some of it is a bit loose. Mine just needed tightening up all round with allen keys. The whole thing felt much more solid once I had done that.

Sally, I think I'll need to do that too! Tomorrow I'll pinch my OH's tool box and play with various bits and pieces.

To all of you: do you think I should try to remove more of the dirt/old grease that seems quite stuck in the moving joints? I hate to see it like that, it's yuk to me, but maybe it's like a baking tray's patina..... (which I also find quite yukky. I like my metal to shine  )

[jaykay]

The dirt should loosen up as you oil and you can probably them start to clean it out. Yes, in general remove muck from moving parts, it can act as 'grinding paste'!

As far as the bobbin following the flyer goes, check the following:

1. That the flyer shaft is clean (use fine sandpaper) and that you oil it before you put on a bobbin.
2. That the bobbin isn't fitting too tightly. If it is, you can ream it out with a rat-tailed file - or a large screw. Don't overdo it or the bobbin will 'chatter'.
3. That the orange fence string isn't slipping. You can replace the drive band with ordinary parcel string, which is what many of us spin with all the time.
4. That you have enough tension on your bobbin brake. You should have a little spring or elastic band, then a piece of string which goes over the ridge in the bobbin and tightens with a wooden screw. Tightening this, when all the above works properly, is what increases the wind-on .

Ignore any or all of the above if it's egg-sucking advice, I'm not sure what you do and don't know 

[Fleecewife]

http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/eqp_spn_accessories.php    It's Brunox Turbo Spray, which is a gun oil.  The plastic drive bands are on the same page.
 
Jaykay - using fine sandpaper for getting rid of the sticky gunge - does it work when it's sludgy, or just if it's set hard?   I tried various ways to clean up my Traveller after years of carting it around demos and letting everyone have a go, and using whatever oil I had handy.  I have so far only got some of the stuff off but it's still particularly bad where the conrods bolt on.   Sometimes I think I should put it through the car wash 

[SallyintNorth]

WC, your description sounded like not enough brake tension to me.  (As per jaykay's #4.)  Without worrying about yarn, spin the wheel and watch the bobbin movement / non-movement.  Gradually turn the tension knob until the bobbin stays still while the flyer spins around it.  Now try with some yarn - it should pull on.  You may need to increase the tension a little bit, but not very much.

If it's still not pulling on, check that you have the yarn threaded through all the hooks up to where it goes across to the bobbin; that the hooks aren't rusty or otherwise creating friction; that the yarn is smooth and not knotted, coiled, or otherwise creating difficulty in travelling through the hooks.  Also that the orifice itself is smooth and not preventing the yarn travelling through it.

[jaykay]

FW, I just use fine sandpaper on slightly rusted metal. Or on hard gunk. Sludgy gunk I'd try meths or white spirit but they can leave tidemarks on the wood if not careful.

I wonder if the de-gunk stuff you use on engines (and hands) would work?