[See the break in the shaft?]
Annie recommended that I mount the shaft in a thrift store drill just to get me through the week. It seemed like a good idea, and besides I had never taken apart this piece of equipment so I really had no idea how it works. I'll just zip through the photos so you can see how the disassembly is done.
[Unscrewing the pin that holds the brass cup in place]
[Pulling the bearing cup and broken shaft end out]
[Tapping loose the guard that keeps threads out of the mechanism]
[The guard slides off the shaft]
[Remove the screw that holds the lock washer in place]
[And now it slides off, releasing the main gear and crank]
At this point I puzzled and puzzled over how that shaft was put in place and how I could remove it. I've concluded that the steel shaft is cast in place. The part that passes through the cast iron is slightly conical. After casting it could be tapped loose because of its shape. This would trap it in place and give it just the tiniest amount of space to rotate. The only way to remove it would be to cut it off, so I headed down the hill to the tool shed where there's a vice mounted on a work bench.
[Winder body clamped into a vice]
[Using a hacksaw to cut off the shaft]
[Ta-dah! It's free!]
[Shaft mounted into a drill to get me through the week]
Conclusion: there is no way to repair a swedish bobbin winder to replace a broken shaft. Once the shaft is cut out, it cannot be put back. A new one cannot be inserted. If your shaft breaks, you have a pile of spare parts that you can use if you break anything BUT the shaft.
Using a drill to wind bobbins is PAINFULLY slow. 20 minutes worth of winding will easily take 90 minutes. And it's loud. Having a spare winder on hand will prevent you from spending half of your week sitting with earplugs in while you wait for a hand drill to wind your bobbins.
2 comments:
The simpler Bobbin Winders are easier to repair (I think my is a Sachet but I'm not sure I got it used from a retiring weaver when I got her small loom). Mine was rattling the same way yours was but a friend who is much more machine oriented than me was able to take it apart and get it back together again.
It is rattling again now, so I will see if he can do something before it breaks (I had not thought of that but that could happen).
I've thought of getting a Swedish one (a lot of my stuff was even bought in Sweden including my drum carder) but now I may give that a pass.
Sagadis (Melodi)
Sagadis, You are right. Not only are they easier to repair, they're easier to modify. I will get one of those next and make a new wheel to increase the gear ratio. I'm used to 18, so going to 12 would feel like a setback.
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