I have a project coming up with about 350 total ends, cotolin at 24epi (table runner and placemats). The warp will be 9 yards long, I think. Have to see how the sample goes first.

I'm pretty sure I have a handle on warping back to front starting with a warp (or warps) taken off a warping board. So I could do that. After I make a higher capacity warping board.

However, my Norwood loom does have a sectional beam, and I have a (homemade) spool rack (I've never used it), as well as a tension box (I've never used that, either). I have an electric winder with a yardage counter, as well as a hand winder. There is also a way to count warp yardage as I wind it on to the beam (although I've never done that, either).

Both of my winders are designed to wind onto paper quills, not bobbins. I've always used quills for my three boat shuttles. Will paper quills work on a rack?

The sections on my beam are 2" wide. Which would be 48 ends. The spool rack I have has spaces for only 30 bobbins. I'd need 48 for 2" sections of warp. Or can one wind more than one warp per section of the beam? I could make a larger rack. See. Lots of questions!

Aside from the bobbin rack question, anything else I might need specific to sectional warping?

Thanks!

Comments

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 01:24

sandra.eberhar…

If you want to wind from spools, you need to wind 48 at once.  I think winding 9 yards from pirns will be difficult; if you want to warp from a spool rack, you need spools.  You can also make separate bouts with 48 ends each and wind each in a section.  I have heard of people winding the entire warp at once on a sectional beam, but I think it would be hard to keep it from catching on the dividers.

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 02:16

NancyHassel

I think you have all the necessary equipment but you will need to wind from 48 bobbins for each 2-inch section @24ei.  I have used a hand-winder and slipped the contents of each wound cone onto a toilet paper roll.  I slit the TP roll lengthwise and compress it to be smaller than the cone.  When the yarn is on it then the roll expands.  The AVL weaving manuals provide excelent sectional warpng instructions & diagrams - e.g., http://www.avlusa.com/downloads/Folding%20Modular%20Loom%20Weaving%20Section.pdf

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 04:27

E.A.Y.

Thanks for the comments! I can only assume that Mrs Miller (family friend and the original owner of all my weaving equipment) bought warp in small spools. Maybe that was more common in the 1960s?

Wed, 05/21/2014 - 00:37

sandra.eberhar…

Depends on what she warped.  You can buy carpet warp on 8 oz tubes that work pretty well on  a spool rack.

Sat, 05/24/2014 - 02:17

ReedGuy

Many suppliers sell spools of yarn, but may do not carry spools in some fibres. You can make a bobbin winder accept a spool by building up the spindle of the winder with masking tape. I use spools on a rack that I often wind by hand off cones or spools. I am often doing small yardages and move on to some other fibre choice, so I don't buy a huge supply of any yarn. I made the winder, the rack and even the spools and the tension box that uses a counter off a survey string box. Good luck with your project.