My Arduino powered spinning wheel :)

I’ve wanted an electric spinner for a long time… but budget-wise they were always a little out of my reach (at least looking at options nicer than Babe’s electric wheel, which I think looks more DIY than mine turned out!) or they just didn’t offer the options that I wanted… plus it was pretty difficult to rationalize spending $800+ when I wasn’t even really sure I’d like spinning on an electric wheel (I do, and quite honestly I think most people would if they gave it a chance).

So last month I set out to actually build my own and started sourcing parts and working out a functional but minimalistic design. I used an Ashford Kiwi jumbo sliding hook flyer which was the most expensive single component I used at $114 (plus another $13 for the high-speed whorl used in my final design - I craved more speed than the whorl that came with the jumbo flyer could offer - but I tend to spin at 33:1 on my Rose, so I like to go fast!)

I started off with a cheap bi-directional motor controller off ebay to power my spinner, but I really wasn’t happy with it - it worked, but the PWM frequency didn’t want to play nicely with my motor (it was noisy) and it lacked the ability to have a “soft start” which really began to bother me very quickly, so I “upgraded” to using an Arduino Uno and a motor controller (I am using the Megamoto from RobotPower since my motor happens to use 5amps, which is more than most of the cheaper arduino motor sheilds can handle.. most top out at 1.7amps and it’s hard to find a big enough DC motor that runs on that little)

Programming the Arduino itself was actually surprisingly simple - this is my first “physical” computing project, but I did learn C++ in college so writing the code from the Arduino (which is based on C) was pretty straightforward… controlling the wheel is really just a matter of seeing what the various switches are doing and telling the motor how fast to go (or not go).

My wheel has both a soft start and soft stop (and the soft stop still works even if the direction switched is flipped off to stop the wheel) and the foot control can start and stop the wheel, as well as offering a “hold” option that simply slows down the wheel while held down rather than fully stopping it… in the beginning when I first got this project working this was one of the things I knew I wanted to have… lots of times I just need to slow down for a second to pick out a nep or a bit of VM, and this works great for that.

Budget-wise this project came in at just under $350. I probably spent another $50 or so on tools I didn’t have (mostly drill bits since the bearings required forstner bits in sizes my mom didn’t have). I am very happy with how it came out both in terms of money and the final function.

I’ve found that I really enjoy spinning on this… not worrying about treadling is great (I can focus on spinning more evenly), and the ability to spin really fine yarns with “almost no” effort is even better, plus with a portable battery I can spin almost anywhere and it takes up almost no space.

Final specs come in at:

3lbs 12oz without bobbin
3lbs 14.5oz with standard bobbin
4lbs 2oz with jumbo bobbin

6” wide, 8 3/4” deep, 7 1/2” tall (slightly taller w/ jumbo bobbin in)

Minimum RPM clocks in right at 100, and I’ve measured it up to 2700 plugged into the wall, and 2200 off battery power.

That makes it slightly lighter and smaller than the miniSpinner and fast, however I do have to admit that mine isn’t nearly as elegant (I’m okay with that).

The first picture is the “final result” - the rest are prototypes I built along the way… the original simply had maidens mounted on top of a cheap box from Hobby Lobby since I don’t own most of the tools I needed.

And on that note - no, I am absolutely not interested in making another one for anyone - ever. I am not a woodworker and it took me a ridiculously long time to design, cut out, and assemble this. Sure, it might be easier if I were to do it all again, but I’m not going to :)

If you want an e-spinner and the thought of making your own is overwhelming, buy a miniSpinner from Kevin at HansenCrafts. Kevin has done a great job with his little spinner offering several features unavailable from any other major manufacturor and I’ve yet to meet anyone who owns one that hasn’t just gushed about how much they love theirs.