Mighty Red Spins Again

I’m so pleased to report that Mighty Red is back in service.

Last Monday, with some much-appreciated help from The Man, I was able to get the maidens freed up (not glued, thank goodness!). After that I got down to sanding the groove in the wheel to take the gloss off the paint and create a more grippy surface for the drive band to run in.

Also sanded some gloopy paint bits from the grooves in the bobbin and whorl so they would operate smoothly. And The Man removed paint from the flyer axle and orifice with a wire wheel.

She was missing a rear flyer bearing, and I didn’t have any suitable leather handy, so I improvised with a zip tie, which is working quite well so far.

Next bit was the treadle. There was an old repair that with a rusted screw and protruding nut below the treadle bar that we replaced (again, not on the level of restoration, but with a focus on keeping her functional)

After that, with a bit of adjustment of her threaded rods to get the right alignment on the wheel, she was pretty much up and spinning. But I found that I had to rotate the end cap on the spinner side wheel up right to keep the wheel axle from jumping out of the bearing when I treadled.

It’s supposed to sit the other way around (as you can tell from the little carveout in the bottom edge for the axle), but this will work for now. I’m thinking about how we might best re-create the missing bit of the cap- any ideas appreciated!

Other longer term work might include reinforcing the glued flyer arms, but they currently seem pretty stable.

She’s a really nice spinner- drive wheel is about 25″, and I estimate the ratio as 12.5

With a drive band of regular old cotton household twine set under very light tension she’s got a nice easy-going takeup.

And for her first sample skein she got to meet almost everyone in the flock 🙂