Complete dressing set

Purchased this cloths winder set for my wife to help,when she puts the washing out to dry.The product is just what we wanted and is a excellent product, but let down by its manufactured quality.After adding some extra nylon packing washers to the release bar it was fitted with no problem. My wife says she could not do without it now,so I rate it with 5 stars for Amazon having it ,and a problem solved.

An ideal solution to what the wife wants however it did need few changes to make it work to its full potential, two washers as packing between the split pin and handle assembly this keeps the handle from coming away allowing the locking handle to work safer, also needed was guide hook to stop the line from coming off the roller, with these changes I have a happy wife and that means less nagging lol

This clothes winder set is amazing, recently I changed to a straight line, from a rotary line. Until I bought this winder set, I had great difficulty in raising the line, I had to put a clothes prop to get any height at all. It is now plain sailing, with the robust winder I can now have a straight line, fab. The lovely thick green rope that came with it just completes the experience. I sit and look at my clothes, how sad is that!

the thought is rite but the item is terrible,needs alot of washers and drilling spanner work and bobs your uncle, the item is great

As other reviewers have testified; its a good idea, just very badly made. In fact this old piece of shoddy ironmongery looks as though the manufacturers couldn't wait to get it on the market so they never went further than the first prototype stage. A very early prototype too!! Probably from someone's shed.I reworked mine, not too difficult to do if you have a few engineering tools and hardware, and it works so much better but its still not perfect and never will be all the time the manufacturer is turning out crap like this. it says something for the product that so many people have complained about it and, lets be honest, why should the consumer purchase something and then have to spend time on the product to improve it! Really?!?Personally, I'd rather pay a few quid more for something that was better quality, well manufactured and fit for the intended purpose. Most people do I reckon........

This is really a marvellous idea which has been spoiled by being poorly designed and manufactured.There was really no other alternative available, other than a boat winch, which was less expensive and much better, which I already have, but has much too slow gearing and can apply far to much force.So as an engineer I decided to get one these and see what could be done to improve it.The main problem is that as the line is wound on, there is no proper spool to contain it, so it presses out against the sides, which causes friction that can make it stiff to wind. Also because the bracket is open at the top it can be forced apart, to push off the ring clip holding the crank handle in place, and seemingly even break the welds holding the bracket together.If you can, the most important thing is to replace the ring clip with an M16 washer and 4mm split pin, as shown in my pictures.I also drilled an alternative hole for fixing the line near the end of the crank, so the line then first winds towards the ratchet wheel, rather than pushing against the crank fixing clip.To further help I also tied the open top of the bracket together with a 5mm bolt, as shown in my pictures. In this I had to file away part of the head to clear the ratchet wheel. An M6 countersunk head would be better, but the local hardware shop didn't have one long enough.I didn't bother with the fixing bolts provided for the winder. As my wall is pebble dashed over a soft cinder block, I used M10 bolts to fix the winder to a weather resistant wooden block, from an old pallet, then bolted that to the wall with proper shield anchor bolts.Another problem was that the locking lever did not properly engage with the ratchet wheel, because the spacer was too thick. So I bent this lever slightly, so as the hold the end of it closer to the bracket, without making the lever stiff to move. As someone else suggested, nylon packing washers would be better if you have them. I also used a longer bolt, so the fibre washer in the nut could grip this, with a larger head to hold the lever in place.The pulley wheel is of quite flimsy construction, with just two tiny spots of weld to hold it together. The two screws and plugs supplied to fix this to the wall are quite inadequate and, in my view, would quickly pull out of the wall once any load is applied, dumping your clean washing on the ground. This pulley is also useless if the line is not nearly perpendicular to the wall. So I replaced it with a shield anchor eye, or hook, bolt and clipped a standard clothesline pulley onto that.My wife refused to use the porous twisted rope clothesline provided. She was concerned the colour might run onto the cloths and that she could not clean it properly, but I can use that elsewhere. I tried steel reinforced plastic coated washing line, but the steel cut through its plastic coating as it was wound onto the winder under tension. So I am trying 3mm monofilament strimmer line, which seems to work ok. It is quite stiff and tends to uncoil from the spool and then re-coil when the line in slack, keeping the line in the air, but hanging about 1Lb, or half a kg, on the line, such as a peg bag, resolves this. Strimmer line also stretches more, requiring a few more winds of the handle. It is also more difficult to fix to a loop at the far end, so I wrapped it around a 50 mm cylinder two or three times to get a grip, then wound it round a wall cleat, as shown in my pictures. This makes it easy to take up any permanent stretch that may develop over time. Other suggestions would be welcome.Some measurements showed that with a load of 6.35kg (14Lbs) on the line, with the same load applied to the crank handle, the line tension was about 41kg (90Lbs), a force ratio of around 6.5 to 1, on the third layer with 3mm diameter line on the winder. With a 12.6m long line, the deflection was approximately 300mm to 500mm, depending on how the load was distributed.With a few drops of oil on the shaft, lever and ratchet wheel the winder now works really well and I am very pleased with the result, but wish it worked like this straight from the box. It would have got 1 star, but it is a great idea which can be fixed and then works very well. I have written to the manufacture, or distributor, Deville in Ireland, with suggestions about what they should do with it. It could be so much better designed and manufactured while costing no more to make.What the other reviews show is that there is a real need for such a product and it is a great pity that this can fail to deliver, unless you are willing and able to spend the extra time, money and effort fixing its deficiencies.For those who really need this, but cannot or don't want to make any modifications, the most important thing is not to wind on more line than is absolutely necessary, typically just 2 or 3 layers at most, keeping any surplus line at the far end, and try to keep the line wound away from circular spring clip end of the handle. Also oil the bearings, behind the ratchet wheel and the lever. I would suggest you certainly get better fixings for the pulley and don't apply too much force to the handle. If it working properly about 3.5kg, or 7.7lbs, of force, the weight of a fairly heavy house brick on the handle, should be enough. You also need to make sure you have a firm fixing the other end of the line, that can take about 30kg of horizontal force. If you are uncertain about how to fix it up properly, get someone who is competent to do it for you.Once fixed this works wonderfully well, but it is now sold out on Amazon. They are available from other suppliers, readily found with Google. With some minor improvements it would be great if it was again available on Amazon.----------------------------------------------------------Further comment - April 2014Pleased to see this is again available through Amazon.My winder is still working fine, with the 3mm strimmer line, which hasn't stretched, and various people have commented on what a marvellous device it is and asked where they could get one.Recently had to put up a largish "temporary" shed under the cloths line, so much of the line can't be used at present, unless its far end can be moved. Also had to reposition the winder, because the hinged lid of a new storage bin below clashed with the winder handle, but otherwise still very pleased with the winder, with its modifications.----------------------------------------------------Further note, as of May 2015.Pleased to say The winder is still working fine, although it is now a bit faded and its use is currently limited because of a temporary shed in the way under the washing line.I am pleased to see my pictures of the modifications I made have now been restored, though no longer showing the notes I added.These notes can still be found, but with considerable difficulty. On the main page for the product, scroll down to my review and on the right it shows "Customer Images", and click on "see all customer images". You will see the images are repeated, so click on the second copy of each image and this still includes the added notes.

Lots of advice available on Amazon about what needs to be done to make this work. As far as I can judge, many of the minor drawbacks have been addressed to improve the overall quality. However, this is not a piece of machinery that will blend into a garden scene. It is heavy and, from my viewpoint, over-large - you need a pretty solid wall to support it (it is about the weight of a laden washing line) and it would not be easy to mount it on a modern washing line post, unlikely is robust enough for this job.This is a great shame: it's a good idea, just over-engineered, and there is obviously a demand for a more suitably sized and weighted clothes line winder.

Absolutely brilliant. Effortless winding up a full line of wet jeans even though I've had a stroke. Great product, great price.