Ashford e-Spinner 3 Electric Spinning Wheel

No. It has a soft start, so the motor takes two to three seconds to reach the speed you set rather than snapping straight to it. Ashford's own stated reason for building it that way is to stop the yarn being jerked out of your hands on start-up.

Yes, and this is the real difference from a treadle wheel. A treadle stops the moment your foot stops. This runs until you stop it, which is exactly what the foot switch is for.

Stop it on the switch rather than by winding the speed dial down. Stopping on the dial loses your setting; stopping on the switch means you pick up again at the same speed.

Motor off first. Put two hands on the flyer, one either side of the front bearing, lift and snap it out of the bearing, then pull the flyer towards you out of the flexible drive.

Swap the bobbin, hook the brake band back over the flyer whorl, slide the flyer into the flexible drive and snap it down. Check it has snapped fully home before you start spinning. A drop of oil or Vaseline on the flexible drive makes this easier and quieter.

There are two, and you choose by the order you switch things on.

On/off mode, which Ashford calls the recommended one: turn the machine on at the ON/OFF switch, then tap the foot switch to start and tap again to stop.

Hold-down mode: put your foot on the switch first, then turn the power on. It runs only while you are pressing, and stops the moment you lift off.

Switch the machine off before unplugging the foot switch.

No, the foot switch is start and stop only. Speed lives on the dial, so you set it once and use the switch to run, which keeps both hands on the fibre.

Because plying runs the opposite way to spinning. You spin your singles one direction and ply them the other, or the plies simply untwist.

Z twist (switch down) is for spinning, S twist (switch up) is for plying. Always stop the motor at the ON/OFF switch before you reverse direction.

It comes in the box. The orifice is 15 mm, which is wide enough for a thick single. Drop the bush in and it becomes 9 mm, which stops a fine single vibrating on its way through.

Drafting at roughly 45 degrees to the orifice removes almost all of the remaining vibration by itself. Take the bush out again for thicker yarn and for plying. When it is not in use it stores in a hole in the back of the machine, which is where to look before deciding you have lost it.

Almost certainly not. The LED has three states.

Steady on: running normally.

Short flash on, long off: standby. The speed is set to zero or the foot switch is off. This is the one new owners most often mistake for a fault.

Long on, short off: the AC/DC adapter is under load. Ashford says plainly that this is fine and cannot harm the machine. Oil the flyer and bobbin bearings, ease off the brake band, and drop the speed until it stops.

Tighten the tension knob until the springs just begin to stretch. That is the normal working tension.

Do not stretch them more than one and a half times their own length. Too much brake is the single most common cause of a hot motor, a flashing load light, and a brake band that wears out early.

Those are opposite problems and they have opposite fixes, so work out which one you have before changing anything.

Breaking: draft a little thicker, increase the speed slightly, reduce the brake tension, and oil the bearings.

Kinking, overtwisting, or refusing to feed on: reduce the speed and increase the brake tension a little.

Change one thing at a time or you will not know which one worked.

Give it ten minutes before you worry. The motor's ball bearings run in over roughly the first five to ten minutes of use as the grease distributes evenly, and it quietens down on its own. A drop of oil on the flexible drive also helps.

A little, yes, and it is worth knowing before it arrives. You cut the nylon brake band into two lengths, one for the machine and one for the lazy kate, wax and thread two screw eyes, and tap the two lazy kate bobbin pins into their holes.

A small hammer is the only tool you need. Full instructions are in the box, and the phone number on this page reaches someone who has done it.

A 100 to 240 volt AC/DC adapter is included in the box and plugs into the 12V input at the back, so there is nothing extra to buy for use at home.

For spinning away from mains power there is an optional 12V car cord. Ashford warns that using any power source which does not deliver 12 volts can damage the machine and void the warranty, so stick to the Ashford cord.

The spinner sits in the main padded section with a bobbin still on the flyer, two spare bobbins go in the divided end compartment, and the zippered mesh pocket in the flap takes the adapter and foot switch.

Take both cords off the machine before you travel. Ashford warns that yanking or tripping over them damages the plugs.

A finished two-ply, start to finish, with nothing else bought. Fill two bobbins with singles, put both on the lazy kate, and ply onto the third. Three bobbins and two kate positions is exactly a two-ply.

A three-ply is a different shape of job: it needs three full bobbins plus a fourth to ply onto, and a kate that holds three. Most spinners never need one.

There is no single dial setting for a yarn weight, and anyone who gives you one is leaving out half the equation. Twist is speed divided by how fast you draft, so the same dial position gives twice the twist if you draft half as fast.

Start slow. Spin a little, then let a length hang slack and read what it does. A gentle curl back on itself is right for plying. A tight corkscrew is too much twist, so draft faster or slow the dial. Drifting apart is too little, so give it more. That test works whichever way you are off, so you do not need to know in advance.