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The orifice bar comes off, and then you can take the bobbin off the flyer’sspindle (rod).
To put a bobbin on the flyer spindle, make sure to match the hexagon cut-
out at the back of the bobbin with the hex nut at the back of the flyer
spindle. The bobbin is keyed onto the flyer spindle, as its rotation is
braked by the tension knob on the top left of the folding arm. The inner
face of the back whorl on the bobbin should sit almost flush to the back of
the flyer. If the bobbin is not far enough back, the orifice arm will not fit
back onto the flyer in the grooves that holds it in place.
Replace the orifice bar on the
flyer arms by seating it
squarely, matching both ends of the flyer arms at the same
time. If one side seats but not the other remove the orifice arm
and place it more squarely so both seat at the same time. The
flyer spindle also keys into a bearing in the orifice arm.
The Mach III’s bobbins have four
holes around the back end s. These
can be used to hold the leader. For a
leader, make a large loop from about
two yarns of strong yarn –I use perle cotton, acrylic yarn, or a cabled wool yarn.
Tie the loop with a simple overhand knot, and position the knot so it’s not at
either end of the loop. Push the string through one of the holes and back
through another, so the ends of the loop are on the inside of the bobbin. Put one
end of the loop through the other, and tighten this up as shown in the picture.
This leader will stay secure and works for both clockwise and counter-clockwise
spinning. Attach the leader to the front holes of the bobbin for smoothest spinning; if you put it on the
back of the bobbin, it can rub against the back of the flyer.
Setting the Ratio
Your Mach III has five ratios to choose from. Are you are wondering
–what’s a ratio? The ratio is the number of times the orifice hook will
rotate –the number of twists it will put into the fiber you are spinning
–For each complete rotation of the drive wheel. The drive wheel
makes a complete rotation with each complete trip of the treadles (both as a combination) up and
down.
Ratios are set by moving which groove (pulley) behind the flyer you place the drive band in. The drive
band will automatically seat itself on the drive wheel to align with the groove used, over the first few
rotations of the wheel. The largest groove, closest to the bobbin, provides the lowest ratio; the
smallest groove, a metal one, furthest from the bobbin, provides the highest ratio.
The effort to treadle increases slightly with each ratio; but even at the highest ratio, it is lighter than
traditional treadle wheels. For easiest treadling at the higher ratios, start treadling slowly, then
gain speed. Once you get it started, it keeps going easily with regular treadling.
In the picture series here, we see the drive band first in the largest pulley, then moving down to the
smaller pulleys, for ratios of 1:3, 1:5, 1:10, 1:15, and 1:21. The largest three pulleys are wood, and the
smallest two pulleys are metal.
8
1:3, 1:5, 1:10, 1:15, 1:21
