Whoever Designed This is Not Too Swift!
One of the most important tools for any spinner/knitter/weaver/fiber enthusiast is a swift. For winding skeins, unwinding skeins, even plying. But when engineering design fails, road rage finds a new cousin!
These pictures show one of the major flaws with the hand-made swift I bought off eBay. The ends of the removeable pegs were sanded to make them drop easily into the holes. Unfortunately the more yarn you wind on, the more the pegs tilt inwards. The yarn slides upwards until either the peg comes out or the yarn slides off - or - worst of all, the tip of the peg breaks off! Yes, I have one peg with a broken end now!
The story doesn't end there! The arms are notched and fit together well, making a nice tight 'X'. They are mounted on a large bolt with 2 washers and nuts which I presume are intended to hold things together somehow, but this is what happens; if you wind clockwise one bolt tightens down, if you wind counterclockwise the other bolt tightens. Either direction results in the the 'X' being clamped so tightly that it won't turn any more!
My son felt sorry for me and wrapped some tape around the shaft. Although it stops the tightening the 'X' now wobbles like a sheet in the wind and winding yarn is slow at best. Coupled with the peg problem it amounts to a trip back to the drawing board and the hardware store!
I was hoping to post a pic of the repaired swift but alas this project too has slid to the back-burner! I WILL post it once it's finished!!!!
These pictures show one of the major flaws with the hand-made swift I bought off eBay. The ends of the removeable pegs were sanded to make them drop easily into the holes. Unfortunately the more yarn you wind on, the more the pegs tilt inwards. The yarn slides upwards until either the peg comes out or the yarn slides off - or - worst of all, the tip of the peg breaks off! Yes, I have one peg with a broken end now!
The story doesn't end there! The arms are notched and fit together well, making a nice tight 'X'. They are mounted on a large bolt with 2 washers and nuts which I presume are intended to hold things together somehow, but this is what happens; if you wind clockwise one bolt tightens down, if you wind counterclockwise the other bolt tightens. Either direction results in the the 'X' being clamped so tightly that it won't turn any more!
My son felt sorry for me and wrapped some tape around the shaft. Although it stops the tightening the 'X' now wobbles like a sheet in the wind and winding yarn is slow at best. Coupled with the peg problem it amounts to a trip back to the drawing board and the hardware store!
I was hoping to post a pic of the repaired swift but alas this project too has slid to the back-burner! I WILL post it once it's finished!!!!
eek, not great. Too bad about the swift, its honestly one thing I haven't invested in because they are so expensive, I really don't understand the expense given the relative availability of the materials involved and the apparent simplicity of the device itself, however, if you seem to be experiencing so many difficulties this could explain the cost, there is some sort of trick here to achieving a properly working device... hope you crack the code!
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