Hello all! I'm hoping someone else has seen this problem and worked out a solution, because it has been baffling me.

I have an older Baby Mac -- I think I am its third owner. It is an add-a-harness loom with all eight harness and ten treadles. When I am weaving, some of the lamms, especially the back four, but sometimes even the front four, will jump tracks. This means that I end up with lamm 7 in the same groove as lamm 8 and, obviously, the harness doesn't move properly any more.

Other problems: my shed is not consistently clean and open; and the uprights frequently fall out of the harness. The shed not being open could be worked with once I felt I could trust the loom in other ways, but the uprights falling out is, I think, connected to the leaping lamm problem.

I have taken some pictures and uploaded them to flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliotecaria2/4374055475/in/set-72157600238235061 this is one, and there are several after it that try to give different views of the problem.

I am deeply frustrated by this, as it interrupts my zen weaving state. I feel like I am fighting my loom. So many people love their Macs, I would like to love mine as well, but right now, my emotions are fairly negative.

Comments

Sun, 02/10/2013 - 03:33

Michael White

needs a little work. The problem with an older loom is some of the parts have become worn and the wood over time as expanded. Putting foil on the side is just going to increase the drag on the frames. There was a fix here or over on Ravelry some time back, but I couldn't find it. What I would do is get a wooden dowel the size of the slot and some plastic zip ties (elect dept). Cut the dowel a few inches long and run it into the slot and using the zip tie strap it to the top of the lamm. The lamms push up the heddle frames using a clip. Weavers have drilled the clips out and ran a short bolt through the frame. Why are you clamping the ends of the treadles. Are your tex strings coming out?

 

Michael

Sun, 02/10/2013 - 21:22

bibliotecaria (not verified)

Thanks! A solution is in sight! The foil was actually put there by one of the previous owners. I have slowly been taking it off, since I don't think it was helping. I did see a picture on Flickr that had added lamm extenders, but I couldn't figure out how it was put on there. Although I couldn't quite visualize all you said. I was with you up to the clip point. Could you explain that part a bit more? Is that to solve the lamm dropping out of the harness part of the problem? And yes, you are right, the texsolv is slipping out of the slot in the treadle. I think it is part of the age of the wood. The screws won't tighten--maybe stripped? The clamps control that problem, although eventually I would like a more permanent solution.
Wed, 02/13/2013 - 13:54

Michael White

Yes, drilling out the lamm clips will stop the harness from jumping off the lamms. On your treadles you could just replace all the screws with bolts. On the lamm clips you may not need to do any drilling, it looks like you could just add a small bolt and nut. I tried posting a picture but Weavolution does not like windows 7 pro or exp 8

Michael

Mon, 03/11/2013 - 20:37

mrdubyah (not verified)

The lamm extender was my patch, though not my loom.  View it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrdubyah/4561621631/

It is a piece of tin (cut from a tin can) folded over one end of the lamm and pop riveted to hold it in place.  It was intended as a temporary patch, but worked so well that it is still in use.  The real fix, of course, is to replace the worn lamms, but that was too expensive for the owner of this particular loom.  Your clamps and cords may be exacerbating the problem by pulling forward or backward on the lams instead of straight down.  The CP is made for treadle hooks which will slide forward and back in the treadle slots so that they always pull straight down.  Also, make sure that the treadle axle "floats" forward on the pivot so the treadles stay directly under the lamms.  Pulling the axle back too far will cause the treadles to push the lamms outward and away from the operator.  You can replace the screws in the treadle ends with small nuts and bolts to hold the treadle slots together.  I've done this on several CPs. 

Mon, 03/11/2013 - 21:12

mrdubyah (not verified)

I've gone back to your photos and i'm pretty sure that the problem is caused by the texsolv not pulling straight down.  I recommend replacing the texsolve with heddle hooks to make the loom function as designed.  Failing that, reposition the cords so that they all pull straight down and see if that helps. 

Mon, 05/20/2013 - 23:11

Gnu weaver

Can you explain your info here a bit more please? "make sure that the treadle axle "floats" forward on the pivot so the treadles stay directly under the lamms.  Pulling the axle back too far will cause the treadles to push the lamms outward and away from the operator." Thank you.
Thu, 05/30/2013 - 03:43

mrdubyah (not verified)

Sure.  The treddle axle on a baby Mac rotates on a metal tang attached to a wing nut.  This allows the treadles to be raised when folding the loom.  The wing nut is loosened and the tang is rotated to put the axle in the up or down position.  Some baby Macs have a pair of clips on the axle that can be clipped over a metal bar at the base of the loom.  The clips hold the axle against the metal back plate to keep the treddles in place.  In my experience with an 8 frame baby Mac, these clips can pull the axle too far back under the weaver, causing the treddles to pull the lams forward or backward as well as straight down.  That exacerbates the problem of lams jumping tracks.  I don't use the clips.  Instead, I recommend moving the axle forward or backward under the loom until all treddle hooks are pulled straight down when the treddle is depressed.  Then tighten the wing nuts to hold the axle in the right place. 

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 02:23

Judith Favia

This is such a helpful discussion! I am just setting up a new 8 harness baby Mac CP after many years away from weaving. I previously had a 48 inch 8 harness Mac, which has a somewhat different treadle arrangement. I will definitely try keeping the axle clips off if that helps with the treadles pulling straight down. Any other tips on tie up for this loom? I am a little concerned about hours on the floor trying to find the correct lamm and pinching fingers n the process. It is a new loom with the super hooks, and I have already seen that they are a bit too tight to easily go over the lamm. Thanks for all the excellent support! It is great to be able to hear from experts who have dealt with some of these problems. Judith
Thu, 06/20/2013 - 00:00

Thresel

I bought a brand new baby mac 8 harness and replaced the super hooks with texsolv.  I have had no problems with it.  I've woven four things on it since April.  I put all eight tie ups on each lamm.  I color coded the tie ups.  It's much easier to change the tie up now and I can fold the loom without removing the tie ups.  I bought the texsolv from the Yarn Barn Kansas.  The 22 yard spool was enough to make 80 9" tie ups.  I have 50 arrow pegs.  I put the loom up on a table to attach the texsolv and used magic marker to do the color coding.  Hope this helps.

Thu, 01/01/2015 - 16:56

joanna.in.md

In your original post you said,

"the uprights frequently fall out of the harness."

I also have this problem.  Very annoying.  Have you found a fix?

Thanks!

Mon, 01/12/2015 - 21:40

mrdubyah (not verified)

1.  Please don't put texsolv tie-ups on a Baby Mac, especially an old one.  It might work fine for a while, but it's only a question of time until the cords start bending the lams and yanking them out of the tracks.  If Macomber meant the CP to have Texsolv tie-ups they would have designed it for texsolv.  They didn't.  The steel hooks were designed precisely to prevent the lam issues addressed in this forum.

2.  Uprights usually pop out because the frames are not dropping properly and/or because one or more frames is in the track backwards.  Make sure the punched out loops at the bottom center of all frames face toward you, not away.  Make sure all your frames slide up and down easily in their tracks.  Also make sure you either have enough weight in metal heddles on each frame to pull the frame down all the way against the warp tension or add some weight to your frames to compensate for missing heddles. If the problem still persists, put a short twist tie in the hole at the top of the upright so that it can't drop out.

3. Super hooks should clip firmly over the lams so that they don't pop off idle lams during weaving.  Pull open the top hook or squeeze it shut as needed to get a nice snug fit. 

4.  There are small holes through the top panels of the castle on both the left and right side of the castle.  These are supposed to have a stiff wire through them, running from the front to the back.  This wire, in the lower holes, prevents the frames from rising high enough for the center lifter to pull out during transport.  It can also be used to hold a frame in the upper position for threading or for tie-up.  The upper holes hold the wires during weaving.  If these are missing, you can make replacements yourself from a bit of coat hanger wire.  Put a loop on one end, push the other end through the holes, and cut it off at the back of the loom.