How It Works

The WooLee Winder has no hooks on the flyer arm, instead it uses two eyelets. One is stationary and the other moves automatically as the yarn winds onto the bobbin.

The key to the WooLee Winder is a custom double-threaded screw (travel screw) built into one flyer arm. This screw, when turning, evenly feeds the moving eyelet up and down on the flyer arm. This moving action winds the yarn onto the bobbin over its entire length evenly in much the same way as a deep sea fishing reel.

Each bobbin has a little gear on the front that turns a small, lightweight gear train to the travel screw. When you are spinning and holding tension on the yarn, the bobbin and flyer rotate at the same speed. When tension is released from the yarn, the brake does its job slowing down one component while the other keeps moving at the same speed. (A bobbin lead slows the flyer, and a flyer lead slows the bobbin.) This difference in speed is what winds the yarn onto the bobbin and also causes the gear train to turn, turning the travel screw, and thus moving the eyelet down the flyer arm. When you reapply tension to the yarn, both the flyer and the bobbin return to the same speed and the gear train stops turning. The moving eyelet will then stay in the same position until the next time you let tension off the yarn, then the process repeats. The picture below will give you a good idea of what a typical WooLee Winder looks like. Each model, however, is a little different to fit the wheel for which it is designed.