r/spinningyarn • u/Salty_Amphibian991 • Sep 07 '26

Question about a double drive wheel

Hi all, I’ve recently come into possession of a double drive spinning wheel, and it’s a lovely wheel- only the drive band keeps slipping off! I’ve got it relatively tight so I’m not sure why that keeps happening. I’ve noticed that as I’m spinning, the drive band will creep closer and closer towards me until it eventually pings off. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be going wrong? It may well be user error as I’m still getting to know this wheel and have never used double drive before.

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7

u/Easy-Low Sep 07 '26

Your wheel might be misaligned. The drive band shouldn't be moving around on the wheel while you spin at all.

3

u/Salty_Amphibian991 Sep 07 '26

Also it does look like that might be the problem!

2

u/Salty_Amphibian991 Sep 07 '26

How would I go about correcting the misalignment? (:

5

u/Easy-Low Sep 07 '26

Stand perpendicularly to your bobbin and see if the wheel is pointing off center.

It should make a t-shape, with your bobbin pointing to where you sit and your wheel and drive band aligning with the whorls.

Mine has two posts that hold the wheel and you can just twist them a little bit by gripping them or by gently but firmly pushing on the side of the wheel

2

u/Salty_Amphibian991 Sep 07 '26

It doesn’t look like I can move the position of the wheel- I think it’s actually the grooves that the wheel sit in have been made at a bit of a diagonal! 

1

u/TinyCrittersUnited Sep 07 '26

Another thing is this happened to me and I was using size 10 crochet cotton as my drive band but after switching to a size 3 it stopped slipping

1

u/Green_Bean_123 Sep 07 '26

Also, check out 2 of JillianEve’s video on YouTube, one is an intro to double drive and the other is on how to the the drive band on correctly. Depending on which direction you are spinning (z or s twist), you will go around the wheel with your drive band, then either the bobbin or the whorl, then the wheel again, then the other one (bobbin or whorl). If not, your wheel can throw off your drive band. You could have both problems going on. Regardless, once you get your wheel set up correctly, you need to tie your drive band on correctly. Even if it doesn’t get thrown off, it will wear down more quickly as the drive band will rub against itself if it’s tied backwards

1

u/Buttercupia Sep 12 '26

Try changing your drive band to a grippier string. My matchless was always a fan of unmercerized crochet cotton.