I (Dave) am the designer and Rebecca and I are the fabricators of Daedalus Spinning Wheels. Each wheel is assembled, quality checked, broken in, and tuned before being shipped. Every part has been adjusted and fitted by hand. Only the highest quality components have been chosen. All questions are welcome via email to support@daedalusspinningwheels.com.

Starling and magpie wheels come with custom color options. You pick the body which has been preassembled and then you pick the trim color also and we print and add the trim before shipping. Bobbins will be black and a pre-determined pattern; however you may order additional sets of bobbins in your choice of color and pattern, to be shipped at a later date.

Our finish is textured due to the nature of 3d printing. 3D printed parts are created line by line, layer by layer, over the course of many hours. Because of this, they will have a bit of surface texture as "layer lines” rather than be completely smooth. In addition to the line texture, the tops and bottoms of each 3D printed part have unique textures. The bottom of the part is textured based on the texture of the 3D Printer bed and will vary depending on which printer it was printed on. The top of the part will feature the 3d printed lines of the last layer. The 3D printing process isn't perfect and there may be very small defects in the finish, usually as a very tiny bump here or there. However, any parts that have unusual defects are culled and reprinted.

In order for ABS plastic to melt in your car, it'd have to be hot enough to melt the car! Most hobby-level 3D printers will use a type of plastic called PLA. Although it's easy to work with and fine at room temperatures, it will quickly soften and bend in "hot car" temps. However, ABS plastic is the same type that's used in most of the parts in your car, because it's been designed to be tough, durable, and resist high temperatures without deforming. I only use the highest quality ABS I can find.

The Daedalus Soft Start/Stop is required to run our wheels. They are sold separately for Starling and Sparrow. Magpie comes with a controller that is built into the face of the wheel that can be removed and used outside of the wheel. We offer a high-quality battery bank that can operate all of our wheels for over 10 hours. The battery comes with a USB Light. Extra bobbins are sold in packs of 3. We also offer a wide variety of hardware parts if needed. Most come in your Spares bag standard.

At this time, our tools come with a one-year warranty to the original registered purchaser that covers any manufacturer's defects. Damage resulting from accidental drops cannot be covered, but most cases have been simple and cheap to repair.

Because our flyers are individually balanced by hand, and through the use of a unique vibration dampening system, our wheels are amazingly stable even at their light weight and high speeds. If a yarn load becomes imbalanced as the bobbin fills, any slight “walking” can be avoided simply by using a tea towel (or rubber contact paper) when on a hard surface.

No. All Starling models have unique bobbins. The three types of Starling bobbins are: V1 and V2 Mini V1 and V2 XL V3

We have a wonderful community on our Facebook group called Daedalus Spinners Group, dedicated to owners and interested others. Please feel free to join and peruse others' experiences with our products. And if that doesn't help, just send us an email and ask away! https://www.facebook.com/groups/239274393420200/

According to TSA regulations as of July 2021, our Battery is okay but must be carried on. It can NOT be taken in checked baggage. The Wheel is okay either way (remember that Magpies can be flat-packed) though we highly recommend carry on for your wheel to ensure safest travel. When flying with your bird we recommend keeping all cords nice and tidy and ensure that you have everything you need to operate your wheel in one place. Having fiber on the bobbin and fiber ready to spin is also advisable. We have heard sometimes TSA agents may request you to dmonstrate how the machine works so having everything ready to go can expedite the process. Usually questions and demonstrations are due to curiousity rather than concern.

They were introduced on Magpie and the results are just over the top. Capable of 100% speed on Magpie and still being room temp! This means no tension changes as the drum heats up during use, and it means you can run any belt material you wish. Although the satin nylon rat tail works still works well, we have other options like 1.5mm Kevlar that has great feedback for the fine spinners. In light of how well the aluminum drums improved the tension system for Magpie, we have made the aluminum drums standard on all our new wheels so you’ll find them on Magpie Standard, Magpie Art, Starling V3, Sparrow, and Falcon. We've also made them available on new bobbins for the older V1/V2 Starlings!

Starling V3-FP and Magpie V2 purchases go through a Google Form queue, in order to alleviate the issues we had in prior updates where some of our customers missed out due to slow internet or other issues. Unlike our prior waitlist, the queue does not guarantee you will get your wheel within a specific time frame. The queue simply gathers contact information and information on your potential order. Our wheels are built in batches, and we rotate between which wheels we are currently working on. Once a batch has been completed and shipped, we then start working on a new batch of a different model of bird. For those wheels sold through the queue, they are built in queue order. We typically complete a batch of wheels every two weeks, and with the rotation of our four wheels (Starling, Magpie, Sparrow, and Falcon), a new batch of a particular type of wheel goes into production approximately every eight weeks. We do on occasion have to pause building from the queue so that we can make time to build and stock up for approaching festivals. An email will be sent immediately prior to your wheel being built to verify you still wish to purchase the wheel of your choice and to confirm your color selection and accessories. Once verified an invoice will be made. Falcons, Martins, Roly-Polies, Sparrows, Whirligigs are made in batches and are posted to the shop on a first come first serve basis. Announcements are made in our Blog, Facebook group, Instagram account, and Ravelry group when an update is imminent. We are also frequent vendors at several fiber festivals and always have wheels with us then.

After an order for a wheel body is received, your trim parts will be placed in a queue to be printed. Once printed the trim will be added to the wheel and it should ship within 10-14 days of purchase. Orders for accessories like bobbin sets etc can take as long as 45 days, but is usually much faster. You are welcome to email support@daedalusspinningwheels.com for the most up-to-date information.

Yes. There will be customs and disbursements fees charged by your country’s import tariff regulations. For more information our international shipping check out the following blog. https://www.daedalusspinningwheels.com/post/about-shipping-internationally

The No. 1 question we are asked daily is, “Which Daedalus wheel should I get?” And while we have a handy Wheel Comparison Table to aid in your decision making, we also felt the need for a whole page dedicated to helping you make the right choice for you. Check out the Which Wheel? page and if you have any further questions please shoot us a message via the contact form and we'd be happy to assist you further on deciding which wheel is best for you.

We are unable to provide time estimates. For more information check the following blog post. https://www.daedalusspinningwheels.com/post/all-about-the-queues

The reason why the Sparrows go up into the shop rather than having a Queue is because the demand for them is so high that a queue format like our other wheels would not work. It would quickly grow out of control and cause issues with balancing between all of our wheels to ensure the queues are all handled evenly. Instead, we make a large number of Sparrows to go up into a Shop Update in our wheel building rotation. We announce these shop dates in advance via our blog and provide helpful information to help you best prepare for a shop update.

We can ship to any country where UPS is available so if you have a UPS in your country we will be able to ship to you. We have shipped our wheels to the following countries. North America United States of America Canada South America Peru Europe Austria Belgium Denmark England Estonia Finland France Germany Iceland Italy Luxemburg Netherlands Norway Scotland Slovenia Sweden Switzerland Asia Israel Japan Singapore Qatar Oceania Australia New Zealand Tasmania

If you are using a battery pack to run your wheel and you have noticed your wheel is running slower or faster than normal for the speed you are running please check to ensure your battery pack is set to 15V. Using anything other than 15V can be harmful to your wheel.

All wheels are broken in before being shipped, to verify cool and quiet operation. You may notice the motor change its voice slightly when switching directions, as this indicates the motor brushes breaking in, possibly up to 50hrs in each direction.

Daedalus Wheels are designed to never need oil or grease of any kind, anywhere. The tension and drive belts should last a very long time. You are also welcome to experiment with other materials for the tension belt, as crochet cotton(#10) has become a popular substitute, but avoid monofilament (fishing line) or other harsh materials. 1.5 to 2.5mm Braided Kevlar has been a popular high performance belt but must be used strictly on the aluminum bobbin drums. Please email us if you have any questions. To clean your e-spinner, please use a lint-free cloth and if needed dampen the cloth with water only. Please do not use detergents or cleaners. Isopropyl alcohol is okay for worst case scenarios. If you live in a high humidity area you may notice some slight tarnishing on the maiden bearing. This can be cleaned with a jewelry polishing cloth. Any light machine oil coating will protect it. For tarnishing that is beyond using a polishing cloth you can use #0000 ("four ought") steel wool with a tiny bit of machine oil, won't take much force. Wipe it occasionally with a paper towel and machine oil, to keep a healthy coating to protect. Please inspect your rubber o-rings for any cracks as dry rot can happen in extremely dry climates. They can be protected with any oil and are easily replaceable with the spares provided in your kit.

This is a programmable delay time built into the speed controller menu, which allows you to adjust the Start Delay and Stop Delays separately, from 0 to 10 seconds. A full bobbin may want to keep spinning and “backlash” some yarn off of the bobbin when you stop. By adjusting the Stop Delay time, you can fine tune how quickly your wheel stops, and eliminate backlash completely.

Yes! All of our wheels are capable of both the high speeds and light tension that are required for the higher twist needed for these short stapled fibers. Our best wheel for cotton and cashmere is the Falcon which has the lightest tension and fastest speeds of all our wheels.

Absolutely! The only caveat would be limiting the rate you feed the yarn in (depending on how much tension you are using) to avoid any ballooning at very high speeds. Otherwise, it is easy to long draw and reverse the feed to equalize twist.

Place the direction switch in the middle neutral position, press Stop/Start button so display shows a speed number, and press the menu button. Pressing menu repeatedly will cycle through the five menu items, adjust using the Up/Down Arrows. Press Stop/Start button again to exit the menu.

It’s as simple as removing the motor drive belt and tension belt, popping off the motor mount, and turning to face rearward. Then reinstall the motor drive belt onto the rear of the bobbin, and the tension system up front onto the flyer. Video shows how to swap from Scotch to Irish for the Starling V3.

We take great pride in the lengths we go to ensure our e-spinners are as quiet as possible. Should your wheel start to make an unusual sound please let us know so we can assist you. To best assist the situation we’ll need a video where we can clearly hear the noise as oftentimes we can identify the source just by the type of noise itself. Also photographs of the wheel from the sides so we can ensure everything is in proper alignment can help as well. Some things to check to help us diagnose: Is the motor belt and tension belt properly aligned? Try swapping the rear flyer axle bearing to the spare one. Remove motor belt - is sound still there? Switch motor direction - does sound change?

All of our wheels have been designed with motors powerful enough to do any spinning task and be barely warm. However, it is a good idea to monitor the motor temperature of any e spinner to make sure it’s not uncomfortable to touch - which could indicate a larger problem somewhere else.

A new bearing will “weep” or discharge a small amount of its factory grease charge during initial break in. This is perfectly normal. Clean with a dry q-tip or cloth.

If you notice that when you wheel stops it spits some yarn out to the side you’ll need to adjust your Soft Stop Delay Time in the controller menu. This extra yarn is sometimes referred to as backlash or pigtails. In order to alleviate this issue you will need to Increase your soft stop time. By increasing the time, you allow the bobbin to come to a gentle and slow stop. The default Soft Stop is shown as “2.030” in the Speed Controller Menu, which represents a 3.0 second delay. Simply increase this value until you are pleased with how the wheel slows down.

No. You cannot charge the battery and use it at the same time. If you need to charge your battery please either use a different battery or use the power supply that came with your wheel.

We highly recommend labeling your power supplies as it can be easy to forget which one goes with which electronic device. The following devices use these power supplies; you can read the fine print to differentiate. Do not under any circumstances use a wheel power supply to charge the Daedalus Battery or use the Daedalus Battery power supply to power your wheel. This can have harmful effects. Starling V1 - 15vDC, 2amp Starling V2 - 15vDC, 2amp Starling V3 - 15vDC, 5amp Magpie - 15vDC, 5amp Sparrow - 15vDC, 2 or 3amp Daedalus Battery - 18vDC, 2 or 3amp

If you notice that your battery times out while in use this is due to the wheel not drawing enough power. This happens with the Sparrow if the speed is set too low, and sometimes with the Starling too. To compensate for this, you can use a USB-powered light while your battery is in use or simply charge your phone using the USB port.

To ensure the longest possible life for your Daedalus Battery, please do not store it fully charged for extended periods of time. The proper storage charge is between 50% and 75%.