I’ve got a new spinning
wheel. It’s a Lendrum double treadle“complete”. I’ve
been needing a new wheel that I can use for teaching at venues to which I need
to fly. My sisters, Meg and Jo, bought
it for me from The Woolery. I’ll
be paying them back as I can. Thanks
Jo! Thanks Meg!
I’ll be taking this wheel
with me when I teach at Spin-Off Autumn Retreat in October.
One of the classes I’m teaching is “The Mechanics of Your Wheel”. This new wheel is making me think a
lot about the mechanics associated with wheel maintenance … because I want my new
wheel to work well, and I want my new wheel to last!
Wheel maintenance can
largely be considered in terms of the mechanical concepts of friction,
elasticity, and plasticity. When it
comes to maintenance of your drive bands and brake bands, the issues of
elasticity and plasticity are important.
Drive bands (and most brake
bands) are typically made from cotton (or linen) or from some synthetic
substance that is stretchy. Both of
these types of bands have some elasticity (meaning that when you pull on them
they stretch and when you let go they go back to their original length) and
some plasticity (meaning that if you pull on them for an extended period of
time they will stretch but will not
return to their original length when that pull is removed).
The elasticity of these
bands is a good thing and makes your spinning go smoothly. The plasticity is not really helpful. For example, I’ve seen a lot of wheels with
synthetic drive bands that have been held under stretch for so long that they
no longer spring back to a short enough length to be used for the wheel’s
smallest whorl size.
This problem is avoidable.
My advice:
when you are not using your wheel, take the tension off your drive band
and your brake band. These bands will
last much longer and will work much better if you do.
I’ll address the wheel
maintenance issues associated with friction in a later blog entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment