I need to build a couple of hexagon beams. One for the weaved cloth to wind on under the reed and one for the warp on the rear of the loom.

Here I ripped 2-1/2" wide maple strips and then jointed the edges to 60 degrees with the widest face ending up being 2-5/16" wide.

Doesn't get much better than that.

But I needed a jig to hold the members in place so I took some plywood, drew a circle with radius 1.5" and marked cords at 1.5" apart on the circle for drill holes to secure the ends of the members in place with Robertson screws.The hexagon beams will be 62" long, less 1/8".

Here I am on the 5th segment of the hexagon. Bar clamps and a work bench come in handy to press the members flush to each surface for gluing.

My next step after the glue cures is to round the shoulders of each face of the hexagon.

I then rounded the corners on the cloth beam and rough sanded with 120 grit for now. I also used the drill press and bored 2" wide shaft holes in the ends of the cloth beam, 3" deep, to glue on the shafts and to strengthen the beam further with glue on the inside surfaces. I am now turning the shafts on the lathe. More pictures to follow.

Testing the fit of the roller.

Enjoy :)

Comments

Sun, 02/05/2012 - 14:45

SallyE (not verified)

Are you building a loom from scratch?   Looks like it might be a Swedish style CM from the pictures, but what ever it is it's looking pretty good.

I just bought some wood the other day, and discoveed that pine is more expensive than poplar!   But you are using maple, which has got to be wonderful to work with.

Sun, 02/05/2012 - 21:58

ReedGuy

Starting from the ground up, yes. And maple is nice wood. This is all kilned. I'm working on the rachet wheel today. And I also left an inch or so of round shaft coming out the side of the loom frame in case I want to install a friction break with a piece of SS strip and tension spring. Probably won't need it on this beam, but thinking it would be nice on the warp beam especially when sleighing the warp.

Sun, 02/05/2012 - 21:56

ReedGuy

Ratchet Wheel for the cloth beam:

I left an inch behind the ratchet in case I want to install a brake fashioned from a SS strip and spring wire. I don't think I need one on the cloth beam, but it would come in handy on the warp beam at the back. Using the drill press and a press vise I drilled holes at 20 degrees for the 5 wheel handles. The wheel and ratchet is secured by a pegged through tenon.

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 02:05

SallyE (not verified)

Did you turn the handles yourself?   I'm guessing you did!   You do really beautiful work.   Is the loom going to be for yourself or someone else?

 

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 03:57

ReedGuy

I turned the handles, yes. Took about a couple hours by the time I went to the left over pile, selected a ripped board, cut to length and marked centres.

The loom is for my own enjoyment. ;)

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 17:30

ReedGuy

Today I designed and cut a 45 toothed rachet wheel for the back warp beam. 45 teeth means each tooth is 8 degrees of arc from one another. Nice round numbers is what I like. ;D

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 17:41

jander14indoor (not verified)

You mentioned wanting finer control of your cloth beam by more teeth on your ratchet.  Here's another way to get finer control.  On my looms (two different LeClercs and one Cranbrook) there are two pawls on the cloth beam off set by half a tooth.  At any time only one pawl is holding, but as one releases the next catches.  In effect this doubles the number of teeth on your ratchet wheel giving finer control.

Jeff Anderson

Livonia, MI

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 18:02

ReedGuy

Finer control on the warp beam, I don't see it neccessary on a cloth beam. But that is a good point you make about dual pawls offset.

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 21:48

jenjscott

But isn't the cloth beam where they put the worm gear for exact control of tension?

Tue, 02/07/2012 - 11:21

ReedGuy

Jen, it is my understanding that a worm gear is not used on this large type loom. It's easier to maintain tension on the larger floor looms. It seems to be an added feature on newer small looms from manufacturers. From what I've read briefly it's sometimes a PITA device. I believe you would want the device on the warp beam to control drag. Putting it on the cloth beam seems like "pushing" a cart with a rope. ;)

Tue, 02/07/2012 - 16:26

ReedGuy

Since the hexagon beam went without a hitch, let's try a larger diameter octagon warp beam for kicks.

This time the wide face of each member is 3" and the shoulders are 67.5° The octagon corners should fit an 8" diameter circle.

 

Wed, 02/08/2012 - 04:42

Sara von Tresckow

Your ratchets for the back beam looks good, but wooden ratchets don't last very long, at least use marine plywood. Or better yet, take your ratchet design to a sheet metal job shop and let then cut out one out of 1/4" thick steel plate with a laser or waterjet. As pawl use a piece of angle iron. An other solution is to use an old coarse table saw blade.

Wed, 02/08/2012 - 11:24

ReedGuy

Sara, steel certainly trumps wood for wear parts. But hard maple is quite tough. I have made solid maple wooden gears with tiny teeth working on a fast winding device and the teeth hold up well. But, the nice thing about a pegged tenon is it can easily be replaced and modified. One thing to keep in mind is this is a slow advance, not like a pulley wheel on an electric motor turning at several hundred rpm's. Also not a lot of weight wedged on each tooth unless someone is going to stand on the wheel handles. Hope not. ;)

 

Thanks for your suggestions. I have a pile of used saw blades, and I certainly have given it some thought. :)

The first ratchet you see is on the cloth beam.

Wed, 02/08/2012 - 19:55

Woodburner

On my pre unloved loom with the front beam lost, there is a seriously chunky wooden ratchet on the warp beam, and I deduce a metal, and therefore probably much finer, ratchet on the cloth beam. To me, this seems logical; to have the courser, more durable ratchet on the warp beam, where there is a lot of stress, and so by default have the finer adjustment at the cloth beam, but this seems not to be the usual way of doing things, and I am left wondering why they are the way they are? 

Wed, 02/08/2012 - 17:13

ReedGuy

Progressing along on the octagon:

A couple more segments to glue up.

Wed, 02/08/2012 - 20:25

ReedGuy

Final assembly:

Now to set for a few hours.

Enjoy :)

Thu, 02/09/2012 - 05:00

Sara von Tresckow

The "normal" way on looms is to have the coarse adjustment on the warp beam and the fine tuning on the cloth beam. The Cranbrook, for instance is built this way as are most barn looms. Some old barn looms have 4-6 holes in the beam and use a broomstick jammed in to hold the tension. The fine tuning is more effective at the side where the finished fabric is being wound on.

Today, some looms have the same ratchets on both cloth and warp beam, which is also effective - in earlier times, the metal ratchets were precious and where only one was needed, it was more economical.

Thu, 02/09/2012 - 10:52

ReedGuy

That can easily be remedied, just swap out the rachets since they are held by the pegged tenon. Thanks for your insight Sara. :)

 

I have see the broom stick tensoning in Worst's book. It was on the warp beam, but I have seen in on both beams in another source. They had pegs up the side of the loom frame to secure the handle.

Thu, 02/09/2012 - 20:20

ReedGuy

Need to close off the ends of the octagon to support the shaft that the beam rotates on.

 

These ends are 2" thick hard maple. Will let these enclosures set and drill 2" holes on centre at both ends later. Could have drileld them before hand, but it makes no difference to me because my floor drill press elevates, tilts and swivels.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 01:13

jander14indoor (not verified)

OK, several times now folks have mentioned more stress on the warp beam than cloth beam. I don't get that. Newton says equal and opposite reactions. I don't see how the warp can pull on one beam more than the other? Am I missing something?

Jeff Anderson

Livonia, MI

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 11:49

ReedGuy

Another method to make these beams is with a decent router setup. I have an excellent router, but that is where it ends for me. But I know with the right set up a bird's mouth bit will produce very strong joinery for these columns. But, don't attempt it free hand. With the inserts in my beams there is still lots of strength, not to worry.

A link to the bit:

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,46168,46174&p=45160

 

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 18:21

Woodburner

Jeff, it's when the beater hits the edge of the cloth, it increases the tension on the warp quite sharply, while at the same time reducing the tension on the cloth.

Sarah, thanks so much for that reply. Something someone said recenlty made me think I'd got it wrong on my loom. 

ReedGuy, I should have said before, but I got pre-occupied with other things, sorry; I think your beams are awesome, and I am green with envy. :D The biggest decentish timber I can get hold of here without going into silly money is 3"x3". I thought about 'building' something thicker, but I just don't have the tools (or the workshop space! ;) )

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 18:29

jander14indoor (not verified)

Woodburner

Ahh, the dynamic case, hate it when I miss something that obvious.

Thanks,

Jeff

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 23:55

ReedGuy

Here I have bored the ends out with a 2" forstner bit and turned the shaft. Also completed the ratchet mechanism with a pegged through tenon as on the cloth beam. I swapped the 45 tooth ratchet and placed it on the cloth beam and put a 20 toothed ratchet wheel on the warp beam here.

I have not glued up the shaft in the beams yet until I progress a little further to see if I want a brake on the warp beam. ;)

Thanks for following along. Enjoy. :)

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 12:57

jenjscott

Wow, I have shop envy.  You must have quite a set-up.

Jen

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 14:43

ReedGuy

I have a heated shop area inside my barn 10 x 30 feet. It's pretty full with machinery, benches and tools. Stuff tends to accumulate over 20 years. I also have a larger area not heated. That's pretty stuffed to with wood and "toys". :D

Built this bench this winter to get some hand tools, clamps and drill accessories out of the way. Hate clutter all around, but almost impossible to keep up. Still need more drawers to store stuff under my wrap around bench. Next winter's project I guess. Made my own pulls. I have a dowel maker mounted to one end of this. I have to make a whack of 1/4" dowel rod right off for a raddle. Here's my set up for the dowels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bepcx-ioLUU

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 15:42

endorph

been a fascinating thread to follow. I enjoy seeing everything come together picture by picture - I too am jealous of your shop!
Sat, 02/11/2012 - 16:49

ReedGuy

Forgot to mention I also steam wood sometimes, so I have a home made steam chest made from galv. furnace air duct and insulated with spray foam. Just an old grease pale with water pipe from one to the other. Set the pale on the wood stove and make steam. I've made a couple snow sleds so I steamed the skis. There are umpteen different ways to make a steam chest and to generate the steam.

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 17:18

Joanne Hall

This has been an interesting discussion and makes us all think about things that we usually just use and enjoy. 

Another factor in this issue of the number of teeth and tension on the warp is that of having a lot of warp and sticks on the warp beam and then later a lot of woven rugs or fabric on the cloth beam.  Perhaps it does not make a lot of difference, as 99% of weavers  only make short warps.  But when a warp beam is loaded with a lot of warp and a lot of sticks, it becomes very large.  Then when you want to tighten the warp one more notch on the ratchet, the warp moves a much greater distance due to the large full beam.  That is when you will wish you had more teeth.  The Glimakra looms have the same ratchet on both beams and the ratchet has 48 teeth.

The same happens when you have woven six rag rugs and they are all on the cloth beam.  To tighten the warp just one more notch on the cloth beam ratchet when you have such a large built up cloth beam, you will also wish that there were more teeth.

When I advance my warp, I want the tension to be identical to what I have had, or at least almost identical.  To do that, one cannot always assume that it is the cloth beam where that tensioning is to be done.  When the warp beam is nearly empty and the cloth beam has cloth and sticks, it is the warp beam that can be the easiest to tension.  And I like to do the final tensioning while standing near the warp at the warp beam.  I feel the warp here so that I can get the tension the same as it was.  I tighten whichever beam will give me that tension.

There are many other factors involved with this subject, as this is different on a very small loom, where you need to advance very frequently.  But with a hanging beater you can weave at least 6 inches before you need to advance the warp.   That is why the ratchet system on the warp beam works just fine.  It is the small looms with the lower beater that require the brake, since you often advance the warp every inch or so.

Joanne

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 17:53

Slipstream (not verified)

After having an AVL full frame PDL I decided that i really like thei tension device.  the tension is hled with a cable and spring but instead of the cable ating as a brake there is a slider with a counter-weight on the tail of the cable. By sliding the counter-weigh in or out you can varfy the tension on the warp beam infinitely and the adjustment of the loth beam is also infinite and there is no need  to release anything so that the tension is at the same level regardless of where you are on the cloth. I'm thinking of converting at least my counterbalance loom to that system.

Just out of curiosity do you use biscuits between the slats on your beams?

Regards, Charles

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 18:27

ReedGuy

One thing to keep in mind here is beam and ratchet diameters. The cloth beam I have is 6" and the warp is 8". The rachet diameter on the cloth is 8" with 45 teeth and 6" on the warp with 20 teeth. I may need to reverse this setup, need to experiment. Or may need another 8" - 45 toothed ratchet before I'm done.  Not a big deal to make one. Haven't looked at the ratios. To make a break on the warp I will turn a wooden pully on the lathe, then secure a strip of stainless steel to the pully race. Then a strip of stainless will be half wrapped on the pully secured by steel rod, a turn buckle (to adjust tension) and spring wire. May not even need it, but it will be there.  I may even run the linkage to the front where the operator can turn a handle to adjust tension as needed without getting off the seat. For now, that is just a prototype I have in my mind. ;)

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 18:17

ReedGuy

I tried biscuits one time and couldn't get the pieces to fit flush at the edges. And they were cut the same depth and at 180 degrees. But it should work with all things being equal. Biscuits don't add to strength, just used for alignment.

Fri, 02/17/2012 - 23:17

Slipstream (not verified)

I do like  biscuits for alignment.