Yea... My ITR broke and it's just not just the IT something inside too because it wont retract back. I'm new to this so can anyone help me please.

Where did you purchase your ITR?

Was it the elastic? My elastic broke, also. I bought it at a Daytona Magic Booth at the TAOM Convention. I was told it was the best one to get, but I wasn't told how to fix it.

Mine was purchased at Misdirections. Anyone know how to fix the inside? The rubber thingy that retracts it is also messed up. HELP!

J. Rose:

If you bought your Invisible Thread Reel from Sorcery Magic, the creators of the ITR, you will not have to repair it because you have a lifetime guarantee on your ITR. Sorcery Magic will replace or repair your ITR for free but you will have to ship it to them.

If you did not buy your ITR rom Sorcery Magic, you will have to repair it yourself. To repair your ITR first take the rubber gaskets off of the ends to take it apart. Check your rubber bands. If they are broken you need to buy one of the inexpensive ITR inserts from Sorcery Magic or from some other source. Wind up the ITR insert on a homemade jig and insert it into the ITR.

If your rubber bands are alright then take a piece of scrap wood and put two nails in it the same length as the rubber band loops in your ITR. This will be your ITR homemade jig. Then place your rubber band ended spool on the nails of the jig you just built.

Wind up the spool with the thread on your jig and then unhook it ends of the rubber band loops. Hook them back up to the ITR ends and put the ITR back together again. They are not that hard to repair but you do have to make your own ITR jig. It's easier to do than to try to explain with words.

Sounds like you got a defective product. But if you want to fix it I would use gerard1973's idea or just get a new ITR. Personally, I would prefer loops way over ITRs but, hey, maybe it's just because I had a bad experience with them. A while back, I had the thread break and it retracted inside and it wouldn't suck back out so I took it apart. And I got the thread but when I kept putting it back together the thread would tangle or the rubber band was wound wrong so after about an hour and a half I just tied some fireworks to the ITR and well......you can guess the rest and after that I just switched to loops.

I sort of have the opposite problem... my ITR is usually fine, but I'm always breaking loops! Guess I need practice. Of course, loops are a lot easier to either make or buy than fixing an ITR. My ITR came with a pretty detailed diagram on how things come apart and how to put it back together. I think I bought it through the Magic Warehouse cause the price was good there.

I just got a couple of different sized ITR's together on ebay pretty cheap... one of them, however is squeaky. (it's used). There's not too much that can squeak there, so I assume the little felt (or whatever) strip pads on either end of the inner rotating part of the reel are worn down and are squeaking as it rubs the inside of the cylinder. Anybody else ever notice it? Have any ideas? The only things that come to mind are taking it apart and trying to replace those strips (and what would be the best material?) or even trying to put a tiny drop of some sort of lubricant on each end, which doesn't really sound like the best idea...

I just bought a Thread Genie. I'm happy with the operation and just tried a "Standing Card on It's Edge" trick on Zoom and it was a great success. My greatest beef about these things is that I'm continually losing the end of the thread from the wax and it zips inside!

After taking the thing completely apart to get the darn end again, I ran across a post on this Forum that sucking on the hole can get the end out. I tried it and by golly it worked. Now I have to figure out why I keep losing the end. I've tried wrapping the thread around the ball of wax and mashing the wax up and rolling it into a ball and it still comes detached.

What's the secret to keeping the end of the thread securely attached to the wax?
PS: I'm using MesikaWax.

Answering my own question, I just got a Michael Ammar DVD "Easy to Master Thread Miracles" and here is his method of securing the wax to the end of the tread on an ITR. Roll the wax until you get a small worm. Wrap the tread around multiple times, then fold the wax worm in half, wrap the thread around it some more times, then roll the wax into a ball. Time will tell if this works any better...

Buy an Omni Reel. If the thread breaks, you put a vall of wax on the end of the thread and you’re ready to go. All other reels are like Model T’s