Older style

Increasing Spring Tension

The older style Pocket Wheel has two vertical rods in the center of the frame, supported at top and bottom by metal rod brackets. A spring under the lower rod bracket presses the flyer shaft and the o-ring towards the big wheel, forcing the o-ring into solid contact with the face of the big wheel.

This spring can weaken over time, and the o-ring will lose contact with the big wheel, allowing the flyer to slip or coast. A quick fix is to shim a dime between the spring and the rod base to increase the spring's leverage, but eventually thicker shims will be needed.

Another solution is to disassemble the frame, remove the flyer rod assembly, and carefully re-bend one leg of the spring slightly, to produce more pressure. Eventually, however, the metal from which the spring was bent will fatigue until it can no longer apply pressure and the o-ring will regularly slip.

If your wheel's spring has fatigued to this degree, I recommend returning the wheel to my shop for repairs. This involves fixing the lower rod base in place with a steel pin, and replacing the wheel and crank assembly with those from the newer style wheel. After this is completed, the mainspring will be located adjacent to the right crank, and the pressure can be adjusted as on the new wheels. Contact me for more details and pricing.

Adjusting flyer shaft collar

The upper collar should be positioned slightly above the top of the handle, to prevent the bobbin contacting the handle. The scotch tension string should run straight from the hook around the bobbin whorl.

If you have a Woolee Winder installed, the collar should be positioned such that the bobbin gear and flyer gear are meshed at least half their width, and the bobbin is freely able to spin without rubbing the flyer collet. The scotch tension string should run straight from the hook around the bobbin whorl.

To adjust the collar, loosen the setscrew a 1/4 turn. Reposition the collar and retighten the setscrew.