If using less than the 8 harnessess on my Macomber is it best to remove the extras or can I keep them in place?
Cindy
I see no one has answered this yet - you may want to repost it in the Macomber group. There is lots of activity there. You can find that group home page at:
http://weavolution.com/group/macomber-looms
Good luck!
Alison
I will answer that question for you. Just leave then in place, they will not be in the way at all. Thank you Alison for sending Cindy to the Macomber group.
Michael
When leaving the unused shafts in place, try NOT tying them to the treadles. You'll have much lighter treadling that way.
Just about ready to thread the heddles for my waffle weave baby blankets. Thank you both for the information, I sometimes have a hard time finding the right spot to post, but you are all so wonderful encouraging and mentoring us newbies!
Cindy
Some people feel that the balance is not as good if they use only the first four shafts. What you can do with a four shaft weave (on an 8S loom) is to use every other shaft-which means that you use Shaft #1, Shaft #3 (threaded as if it was #2), Shaft #5 (thread as if it was #3), Shaft #7 (thread as if it was #4). You will also have to match up the tie ups on the treadles (no tie ups on shafts 2, 4, 6, 8). Sounds confusing? After you do it one or two times, it is much easier. The weight of the shafts that you are lifting is balanced across the depth of the loom. Some looms will rock a little if you don't balance it this way.
I hadn't thought about that being an issue, thank you for the information. Do I just evenly space the empty heddles on the unused shafts and just go around them since I'm weaving almost the full width of the loom?
If the heddles don't interferre with the yarn in anyway, I leave the heddles on, but do try to leave some on each side. Since you are using almost the whole width, I would probably take them off. I have had edge threads break because of the extra heddles abrading the threads on the outside edges.
This has been very helpful - thank you!
Because of the weight of a Macomber loom you will not have any problem with the loom moving. Ruthie idea about removing the heddles is good. When using the full width you do have to watch to see if the warp is rubbing the side heddles. If you do remove the heddles remember to run a string in the top and bottom to keep them in place. Sarah's thoughts on not tieing up the unused treadles is very good. Just tie-up the shafts you will be working with. Spaceing out the working shafts is also a good gameplan.
Michael
I never had any problems using just the front 4 shafts on either of my Macombers. If you have a wide warp and lots of extra heddles, you can often just leave one or more blank heddles in between the ones you are using rather than cramming them to the edges or going through the time and irritation of removing and reinstalling them.
Laurie Autio
Thank you Michael and Laurie for you thoughts and expertise. this is only the second time I've warped this loom so I'm still trying to learn the idiosyncrasies of the Mac. I have removed the harnesses because of the number of heddles that would be in the way and the main warp is a different kind of 8/2 than I'm used to working with so want to go gently. I broke a number of ends when I was sectional warping. I will keep you posted and hopefully have pictures of waffle weave baby blankets I can share!
Cindy
Removing shafts is not generally done on a Mac. If there are too many heddles in the way, just feather them in between the threads on the other shafts. You are never lifting unused shafts on this loom, so there is no great benefit to removing them.
Laurie Autio
