Drive Band Tension Explained: Fix Your Spinning Wheel Take-Up

Drive band Tension is important for any spinning wheel. There are three main problem areas. Check all three so you’re not fighting hidden friction or binding. One is your main wheel, not treadling smoothly. This can give a false feel, and you may have difficulty setting good tension on your wheel. The other areas to look at are your bobbin and flyer. Your bobbin needs to spin freely on the flyer shaft without binding or sticking, and your flyer needs to be set square in your upright bushings and not be bound up from crooked uprights. Any binding on any of these three parts will affect how well you get your tension. If you have a binding issue, adding more tension does not fix the problem. It just adds another problem to the already existing ones.


Here, I look at setting tension on a double drive wheel. Tensioning is similar for Scotch Tension or Irish Tension wheels in that you want the least tension possible to draw on the thread. Scotch Tension is flyer-driven, and Irish Tension is bobbin-driven. The procedure is simple. Back off the tension until only the wheel is turning and the drive band is not turning the flyer or bobbin. Slowly tension the drive band until both the bobbin and flyer are turning and taking up the bobbin leader. Once set, you should be good to go, but if you are spinning thicker yarn, you may need a touch more tension.  As you add yarn to your bobbin and increase the weight of the bobbin, you may find you need a touch more tension.

General rule: you want the least tension possible while still drawing the yarn onto the bobbin. Once your tension is set and everything rotates freely, your wheel should feel smooth, responsive, and easy to spin on.
This video is part of my Spinning Wheel Basics series here on A Bit Twisted, where I teach practical, beginner-friendly spinning skills for any wheel.

Thanks for watching!Getting the right drive band tension is very important. If you’re still having trouble with take-up, or if your wheel is behaving differently than I show here, drop your questions below — I read and answer every comment.
👉 If you’re new to spinning, check out my full Spinning Wheel Basics playlist here:@abittwisted
🧵 What spinning wheel do you use? I’m always curious what others use!

General rule: you want the least tension possible while still drawing the yarn onto the bobbin. Once your tension is set and everything rotates freely, your wheel should feel smooth, responsive, and easy to spin on.
This video is part of my Spinning Wheel Basics series here on A Bit Twisted, where I teach practical, beginner-friendly spinning skills for any wheel.