I did it! I solved the case of my wonky yarn cakes! I imagine others may have the same issue with their ball winders, so I thought I would put together a post on how to fix your yarn ball winder. You can see from the before-and-after images below that something was definitely off!
If your yarn winder isn’t winding correctly, keeps slipping, or is making crooked or uneven yarn cakes, the gears inside the winder may have slipped out of alignment. Luckily, this was a quick fix once I figured out what was causing the problem.
The particular brand I purchased is the Knit Picks Yarn Ball Winder, but I imagine many of them are built the same way. This ball winder is a little workhorse for me and, for the most part, does a great job winding yarn into nice little cakes. The first time I noticed the cakes not winding properly, I called Knit Picks, and they were very good about sending me a new ball winder. But then when it started happening again, I figured it must be something in the internal mechanism that needed adjustment, so I took the winder apart to see.
Keep reading to see how to fix your yarn ball winder.
Why Is My Yarn Winder Not Winding Correctly?
In my case, the problem was caused by the larger plastic gear slipping out of position and sitting on top of the smaller gear instead of meshing with it. Once I repositioned the gears so the teeth fit together properly, the winder worked normally again.
How to Fix Your Yarn Ball Winder
To fix your broken ball winder, you will first need to twist off the cone-shaped bobbin from the main base of the winder.
Next, use a Phillips-head tool to remove the screw from the plate beneath where the bobbin was removed, then remove the plate and set it aside.
Ahhh … here was the issue! You see how in the photo below the larger plastic gear is sitting on top of the small gear? This is why the winder wasn’t winding properly. The gears should mesh so that the teeth fit together properly.
To fix this, gently push the larger gear back away from the smaller one and down until the teeth mesh. It should now look like this.
Now screw the top plate back on and replace the bobbin. All that is left is trying it out. Grab a hank or skein of yarn and wind it up. Perfect!
Have you had this problem? I would love to know if this helped fix it. Let me know in the comments below.
Now that you have your yarn cakes made, read my clever yarn hack for keeping them wound neatly and from turning into a tangled mess while in use or in storage!
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Thank you so much I couldn’t figure out how a ball winder could not do a very simple job. Yours was the first thing I tried and it worked brilliantly!
This TOTALLY helped! Thank you SO much for posting this. Now I can get back to knitting without wrestling with out of control messy knots of yarn. Cheers!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I was getting so frustrated. My ball winder worked and then it didn’t.
This post just saved me much continued frustration thinking i could no longer wind a decent cake of yarn. Thank you, thank you thank you!
Thank you so so much for posting this. After frustration and searching for an answer, I came upon your post. Solved the problem in no time flat. Now i have perfect cakes of yarn again.
Thank you so very much for sharing this information! I have about 7 ball winders that I am about to fix! I just couldn’t throw them away even though they didn’t work! Now I can fix them! You are so very AMAZING! AGAIN THANK YOU!!!
Your solution took less time to complete than it took to untangle the messed up flying saucer yarn barf made with the broken yarn winder. If it hadn’t been such expensive yarn I would have thrown it all in the trash. You are a genius!
Thank you so much! I have this same yarn winder. Tonight I got yarn caught and when I pulled it out, the winder started making very lose cakes. I took it apart, but didn’t know what I was looking to fix. After following this, it is like the day I got it!
Thank you so much! A yarn winder was one of the first things my husband got for me (as well as free reign in the yarn aisle of our local craft shop) after we lost our home in a wildfire. I think he was just as upset at it being broken as I was! Thanks to your easy to follow instructions, I can get back to reorganizing my yarn piles 😁
This completely fixed the problems I was having. Thank you for posting this fix!