Daedalus Roly-Poly User manual

Roly-Poly
Daedalus
Spinning Wheels

Welcome to the Flock!
Congratulaons on purchasing the Daedalus Roly-Poly, and welcome
to the Flock. We at Daedalus couldn’t be more thrilled that you
decided to trust us with your ber tool purchase. The Roly-Poly was
designed to wind yarn balls eortlessly with the ip of a switch and
the turn of a knob, but with a twist: it winds a nostepinne-style ball,
not a standard cake. Roly-Poly can wind ne and wide gauge yarns,
as well as large and small skeins. Whatever your needs, Daedalus
has you covered. The Roly-Poly also pairs well with the Whirligig
electric skeiner/swi. Should you need any assistance in the future
with your wheel, please do not hesitate to contact us
• 40 mm Core (22 mm
Core is underneath)
• Core Base
• Tie-O Bolts
• Rear Motor
• Speed Dial
• Power Socket

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• Guides
• Flyer
• Drive Belt
• Front Bearing
• Front Orice
• Rear Orice
• Tension Hooks
• Front Motor
• Face
• Serial Plate

Before operang, we highly recommend reading over the manual as
well as watching our videos on how to use the Roly-Poly. Simply scan
this QR code with your mobile device’s camera or go to
hps://www.youtube.com/@daedalusspinningwheels.
Roly-Poly comes fully assembled and ready to start balling your yarn.
Unpack and plug it into the power brick, and remember to add the
toggle power switch. Using the threader hook tool, route your yarn
from your swi. Thread it into the front orice, out the rear orice,
and then through the two guide rings (one along the yer arm and
the last one at the end of the yer arm). Anchor the end of the yarn at
one of the silver screws around the cone-shaped Core Base (there are
two with recesses for thicker yarns and two without, for ner yarns).
Getting started

3
Make sure the speed knob is turned all the way down
(counterclockwise). Turn the toggle switch on and the core will begin
to spin slowly. Now you can start turning up the speed knob just a bit,
which allows the yer to begin slowly wrapping the yarn around the
core. You might want to add a lile “hand tension” by gently pinching
the yarn going into the front orice. Although it’s not technically
necessary, this gives a rmer start to the ball.
Aer about an ounce or so, maybe golf ball sized, you can release
the hand tension and begin increasing the speed knob. How fast you
operate is up to you. You can quickly get to full speed if you like and
nish a 4-ounce skein of ngering yarn in under 4 minutes. You can
take the slower method and increase the speed knob when you start
seeing gaps in between the adjacent wraps, trying to maintain the
perfectly side-by-side wrapping. This process can take 8-10 minutes
for that same 4-ounce skein of yarn.
Decrease Speed Increase Speed

4

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• The 40mm core will be used in most cases.
• The 22mm core is great for laceweight or ner yarns as well as for
a skein of 50 grams or less.
• Tension hooks are best used for ner or slick yarns.
• Experiment with locaons for seng up your Roly-Poly and Swi
of choice. We typically keep the Roly-Poly and Whirligig on the
same surface about 2-5 feet apart. Placing them further apart can
allow twist to be evenly dispursed throughout the yarn.
• Ball width can go up to 8.5“ wide and yarn can be as thick as what
can t through and move freely through the orice and guides.
• Watching the Roly-Poly wind is mesmerizing, but your primary
focus needs to be on the swi to catch snags, especially if your
skein looks like it may have issues.
• If you have a skein snag on your swi, turn o the switch on the
Roly-Poly and turn the speed dial to zero. Then take one wrap o
the core to create some slack in the yarn and clear the snag on the
swi. Before you start the Roly-Poly again, make sure the speed is
dialed down so you’re not restarng at full speed. You can speed
up the yer once the swi is moving freely again.
• For an umbrella swi, make sure the umbrella is not ght against
the top of the post, creang fricon. You want the swi to move
freely.
• Special note for Schacht Ultra Swi users: we recommend using
the swi in its upright posion, for maximum success. When
horizontal, the winding handle causes the swi to be unbalanced
(heavy on one side) and not turn evenly. This is ne when using
the handle to wind a skein onto the swi, but when using it as
a yarn source, it causes uctuaons between very slack and
moderate tension with every revoluon.
Tips & Tricks

6
Tension (how ght the yarn is when being pulled into Roly-Poly) will
aect the density of your ball. The speed you operate will inuence
tension, because at higher speeds, any given swi will have more
drag. But a good, low-fricon swi will sll produce acceptably
dense balls at higher speeds. However, if your swi isn’t as smooth
or squeaks and/or “barks” at mid speeds, then you might consider
keeping the speed knob in the lower ranges if you require a lower ball
density.
In the case of needing a ghter ball with higher density and simply
running faster speeds isn’t desired, you have the opon of using the
internal tension hooks built into the yer. You can route your yarn
around these two hooks before running back through the two steel
guide rings. This detour in the yarn path will add more tension to the
yarn going onto the ball. In tesng, this feature would only be used
when balling ne silk blends at lower speeds. (Silk blends have less
drag overall and therefore less tension.)
All About Tension

7
Geng started, stay with slower speeds and feel free to keep the yarn
going lightly through your hand. This way you are adding a lile bit
of “hand tension” and monitoring the apparent density of the ball.
This is a good way to become familiar with the range of tension and
ball densies unl you get the results you want. At any point you can
simply turn up the speed a bit, and the extra drag from the added
speed will allow you to let go of the yarn. You’ll sll have the same
tension, but you can sit back and relax.
Once you’re comfortable and nd yourself zipping along at warp
speed, just be careful about the skein snagging up on your swi. Keep
your hand on or near the toggle switch so you can quickly power o in
case of a snag. Be sure to turn the speed knob all the way o, so you
can resume slowly aer clearing your snag.
Getting to Know Your Roly-Poly

When the ball is nished and you’ve turned it o, the rst thing to do
is to remove the yarn from the silver anchor screw. You can then slide
the ball o of the carbon ber core, or you can pull the 40mm core o
with the ball, remove the ball and replace the core.
Your ball will be open on the inside at this point, which you can leave
as is, or you can squeeze the ball (horizontally and vercally) to
“collapse” the open center.
Either way, you’ll be able to easily center-pull the yarn. If you have
the yarn info tag, you can place it into the center of the ball before
collapsing (with both ends of the yarn taped to it, for maximum
organizaonal pleasure).
Finishing

9




13
Roly-Poly is designed to operate full-me at full speed, under heavy
tension, without overheang or failing in any way. Even though no
maintenance is needed for your Roly-Poly, should you ever need any
assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at
To clean your Roly-Poly, please use a lint-free cloth. If needed, dampen
the cloth with water only. Please do not use detergents or cleaners.
Canned air is recommended for keeping crevices clean of ber and
yarn debris, but be certain to keep the can upright while spraying to
avoid damaging the surface of your Roly-Poly.
Maintenance
Spares Kit & Accessories
2 Spare Rubber Feet, On/O Toggle, Wall Power Supply 15V 5 amp
Orice Hook, 40 mm core

Lace Lace Fingering Sport
324g 25g 102g 107g

DK Worsted Aran Bulky
271g 101g 106g 502g

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All of our Daedalus machines require 15V power. Our ocial Daedalus
Baery can change voltage simply by pressing the power buon unl
15V appears. The Daedalus Baery uses an 18V 3amp power supply.
Do not swap this power supply with any other power supply for any
reason.
Input (long side of baery) - for charging your baery
Output (short side of baery) - for powering your machine
Best Pracces
• Do not aempt to charge the baery and operate the device
at the same me.
• Do not use your machine’s power supply to charge the
baery. Conversely, do not use the baery’s power supply to
power your machine. Label your cords to avoid a mixup.
• If your machine is going slower/faster than you remember it
spinning at your usual sengs, check the baery seng to
ensure that it is sll set to 15V.
• The baery will power o if the device is not drawing enough
power from it. This happens with the Sparrow if the speed is
set too low, and somemes with the Starling. To compensate
for this, you can use a USB-powered light while your baery is
in use or simply charge your phone using the USB port.
• To ensure the longest possible life for your Daedalus Baery,
please do not store it fully charged for extended periods of
me. The proper storage charge is between 50% and 75%.
Daedalus Battery
Make sure your baery is set to 15V

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Roly-Poly is capable of high-energy speeds. Please be mindful of your
children and pets by keeping your winder unplugged from power
when you are away from it. This ensures maximum safety when you
step away from your winder.
All tools made by Daedalus Spinning Wheels use 15V power supplies.
Using anything other than 15V can be harmful to your wheel and void
your warranty. When using a baery, please ensure it is set to 15V.
Daedalus Spinning Wheels LLC and Spoed Ewe Fibers LLC will not
be held liable for any damages incurred to persons or property due
to the use of non-approved third-party manufactured components
on our products. Doing so will void your warranty. Please email
us with any quesons regarding modicaons or third-party
equipment.
Safety Notes & Disclaimer
Website - hps://www.daedalusspinningwheels.com/
FAQ - hps://www.daedalusspinningwheels.com/faq
Shop - hps://shop.daedalusspinningwheels.com/
Email - [email protected]
Contact Daedalus
Facebook Group
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Discord Group
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YouTube & Instagram - @DaedalusSpinningWheels
Hashtags
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Roly-Poly
Daedalus
Spinning Wheels
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