I know people have replaced the Macomber tie rods with texsolv, but has anyone changed the chains that go from the jacks to the shafts with texsolv?  These chains occasionally hang up, and as much as I love my Macomber, it's getting annoying.  And if you have done that, are you using the heavy texsolv or the regular weight?    I'm thinking that a loop of heavy texsolv with "s" hooks on both the jacks and the shafts would work.     What have you done about shafts that hang up?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 12:54

Michael White

The chains are not the problem. The biggest problem with shaft hanging is a dirty groove in the treadles. If this groove is dirty or has closed up a little the hooks drag in the groove and can hang up. Also if all the clips, that hold the heddle bars, are not clipped the heddle bar can catch on other shafts and hang up. also check to see that the S hooks are closed. One last thing the jacks. The jacks and push rods, all these need to be cleaned and lub applied. Now getting back to your question about replaceing the chain. You can replace the chain but remember how heavy the shafts are. The weight may stretch anything you use.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 14:16

SallyE (not verified)

How can dirty groves on the treddles cause this?   Plus, The groves on the treddles are clean. . . .  The problem I see is that the chains get kinked up and fail to fall. I usually have to reach over and unkink the chain.

Maybe I should replace the chains with a different kind of chain? 

 

 

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 15:28

mneligh

When a harness is stuck in the up position, its chain will kink.  This can only happen, I think, when the harness is up but the jack down.  I have seen it happen in 35 years on my current loom when for some reason one harness interferes with another or when one treadle hook hands up on two lamms.  These usually happen at the beginning of the piece when I've mishooked the treadle hook or failed to put the treadle bars into their little "midway" hooks after moving heddles around.  It can happen after a significant amount of weaving when the heddle bars shed their little clips and work loose, which is why I use safety pins instead.  It also happens when my safety pins are too big and hang up on each other.  It may also happen when I've disturbed the harnesses in some way -- like cranking warp forward and having to push the harnesses back, fixing a broken warp thread, or moving replacement heddles (as in shaft switching) from one harness to another.

In cases of extreme warp tension (rugs) or denisty (rep weaves), you may need to adjust all chains a link or two shorter.  The slack in these conditions can cause them to kink.

Check the push rods and lamms.

Usually, the cause stems from something other than the chain/jack mechanism.  My fear is that if you replace the chains and the cause is something else, you will still have a problem.

Hope this helps.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 15:48

Michael White

After weaveing on a big Mac for 20 years I have never had a chain kink. Is this a flat link chain? Do you know if this chain has every been replaced. The chain is always under tension and if the shafts are working correctly there is no way the chain should kink. Now if the shaft gets hung somewere and tension is taken off the chain I guess it could kink. It could be you may have a bent lamm or a tight rivet on the lamm. You can check the movement of the lamms and lub all the connections where they move. Also check the grooves on the sides and lub them as well. Then the groove in the treadles close up, because of fiber build up or because the groove its self closes up (At one time I had to put in a wooden wedge to open up the groove in one treadle) when you push down on the treadle the shaft so up but then the treadle does not come up all the way and the shaft does not come down. If you are using the new super hooks, the hook can catch on the adjacent lamm an cause the shaft to move or hang up.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:17

SallyE (not verified)

Great!   That gives me a lot of places to check.   I've noticed that when the tension on the chain (yes, it is the flat link chain) is loose and then it kinks, so maybe something else is hanging up on the shafts.   Usually, the problem is that not all the shafts drop, on just one end of a shaft drops buy not the other.   That seem to say something is getting caught on something else and the tension is off the chain, and so it kinks.  I've been blaming the chain, but sounds like it's something else.

Thanks!

 

 

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 20:38

Lynnhelen (not verified)

I replaced all my chains with new ones awhile ago and mine will pop off occasionally. How long, or how many links long, should the chains be? My warp seems to be resting in the top of the heddle eyes, not through the middle of them as it should. I am thinking the chains are too long...

Lynn

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 13:08

mneligh

In 35 years I have never had the chains kink on their own.  I have had them kink when something else causes the jacks to be down but the harnesses up.  That's why I would suggest fixing the cause of that situation, not changing the chains.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 13:32

Michael White

The number of links are not important, since I don't know the type of chain you are now using. The eye of the heddle should be about 1/2 inch below the bottom of the beater. The warp will be on the top of the heddle eye. The weight of the heddle frames is pushing the warp down to sit below the beater. No matter how long or short the chain is IT SHOULD NOT POP OFF. Check to see that all the S hooks are closed tight.

MIchael

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 14:47

Lynnhelen (not verified)

I have the flat link chains. I stopped at Macomber in York Maine and that is what they suggested when we replaced them. I pinched the "s" hooks closer. I think one may have been catching on it's neighbor and causing the problem. On further examination under the loom I found that the 's' hooks had stretched out on the brake chain attached to the front of brake pedal!!! We replaced those with stronger ones.

Thanks for all your help.

Lynn

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 15:12

SallyE (not verified)

I just took a warp off my Macomber a day or two ago, so last night I went over the whole loom checking things.   I greased the jacks, used silicon spray on the push rods, got rid of all the fiber dust on all moving parts, made sure the treddle slots were open and clean (they were) and made sure all the s hooks were closed.  The heddle bar clips were all in place, so I don't think that was the problem.

So today I'm going to start a new warp and we'll see how it goes.

On a different subjetc, I wish the shaft sets weren't so expensive.   I have 8 shafts, and this loom will hold 12.   But the price for 4 more is almost as much as I paid for the whole loom!

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 21:57

Michael White

That is what I would do/have done. I would find a other loom the same size and remove what you need to get 4 more shafts. The jacks are the only thing that is different. Each jack is drilled for where it sits. You can not use a nr. 8 jack in a nr. 1 slot unless you redrill the jack. Redrilling is not hard as the casting is bronze. I talked about drilling jacks here before.

Michael

Wed, 04/11/2012 - 00:22

Dena (not verified)

I rarely have problems with things coming undone or kinking up on my macombers, but recently, my fifteen year old nephew has been doing some weaving on one of my looms and has had a lot of issues with things popping out.  I watched him carefully and when he takes his feet off the treadles, he just pulls them off quickly and rests them on the foot rest.  I, on the other hand, lift them up and keep them poised over the treadle, ready for my next change....the transition is more gradual, meaning I don't "pop" the harnesses up.  After I explained this all to him today, he made some kind of adjustment, I'm not sure what and the problem went away.  It continues to amaze me how very small changes in the mechanics of how we weave sometimes causes huge changes in the process and the results.
Wed, 04/11/2012 - 02:19

SallyE (not verified)

I usually ride the treddles up and down gently, like you do.   It would be interesting to know what he did.   Maybe he is a mechanical genius!

 

Wed, 04/11/2012 - 10:10

Michael White

As you know, because of the heavy weight of the heddle frames, quickly removing your foot off the treadles will cause the frames to bounce. This is the number one cause of hooks becoming undone and chains binding. Cheryl told me yesterday evening, that after she and our son dressed one of her Macombers two frames are moving together. I will look at this later this morning. I am thinking she didn't get all the frame clips hooked. Dena I am glad to hear that you nephew is interested in learning to weave. You can show him the pictures of all the "male" weavers here on Weavolution.

Michael

Wed, 04/18/2012 - 17:43

calebsb

I have had significantly fewer problems with hangups since I replaced the little brass fasteners at the end of the heddle rods with 1/2" split rings.  These are a hassle to remove so for frames that see a lot of change I use split rings on one side and small cotter pins (the bumpy kind) on the other side for easier access.  If there is a hangup now, it is usually on the side with the cotter pins.

Wed, 04/18/2012 - 17:47

SallyE (not verified)

Cotter pins - a good idea!   I did everything recommended in the various posts above, but I'm still getting occasional hangups.   I'm going to try either safty pins or cotter pins next.   Thanks everyone!

 

Wed, 04/18/2012 - 18:17

tommye scanlin

Tying a strong string through the hole at the end of the thin strip on which the heddles hang and around the metal part of the harness frame has been the solution I've used.  At our university, there are lots of Macombers and those have been used by countless students for many years.  Some of the looms have come from other institutions and are not in as good a shape as the original few that were purchased new for the department (many years ago now).  So almost all of the looms have eventually lost the brass fasteners... and my solution has been to tie on with strong string.

Tommye