My CD I puked.  Instead of spending a lot of money in the hope it might be fixable (30 year old electronics)  I bit the bullet and bought a new CD IV (no new shoes for me for quite a while).  I'm having trouble getting it adjusted and working.  AVL told me to loosen the springs, which I did, and I thought fixed it.  All of the shafts seemed to be rising OK.  When I started to weave, #5 was not coming up.  I repeated the adjustment procedure, and now I have several shafts that may or may not come up.  AVL told me to look at whether the beads were misshapen or the slots rounded; this all looks fine.I was looking for information on how tight the springs should be, since that seems to be a factor, but can't find anything.  Is there anyone out there who has installed a CD IV on an older loom who can shed some light on this?  CD I worked just beautifully until it puked.

Comments

Dawn McCarthy

I can't speak for CD 4 but in having owned a few I and II's - sometimes a tiny adjustment is required, I find that if the springs are too tight the solenoids sit too snug and the system won't release to allow the next pick of shaft to be selcted.  Be patient, see if you can peak in and fire the solenoids at startup and watch which side needs more adjustment.  sometimes having the box slightly less snug than you think is the key.

Dawn

kerstinfroberg

I *think* there were some extensive discussions about this on WeaveTech a couple of years ago - maybe you could ask there?

danteen (not verified)

I have a CD IV for my older, positive dobby PDL.  I was a beta tester in the development.

I agree that the adjustment may be slight and if you loosened the springs now, you may have done it TOO much.  Try tightening them slightly again.

Once you get it into adjustment, mark the place, (permanent marker, scribe) so that you can put it back more easily if you have to remove the box.

I am not at home for a few days but will look at mine when I get back and take a measurement for you, if that helps.  I have had mine weaving without faults for a long time.  So it should work.

Teena Tuenge

NancyHassel

I know from another post that you have moved your loom within the last year and that it is not in a climate-controlled space (you turn the heater on to heat the space to weave). 

Check all the bolts on your loom to make sure they are still tight.  Then make absolutely certain that the dobby arm is aligned such that the wires are centered in the slots.

sandra.eberhar…

Thank you all for your comments and advise!  I wouln't have been able to fix this without the suggestions from you.  What I learned is that the CD!V is much more sensitive to adjustment than the CD I was.  I also learned that the spring pressure has to be just right; the problem children were #1 (too tight) and #5 (too loose).  What worked (knock on wood) was to adjust the springs so that they all seemed to the same (I had to add chain to some of them), back the box out, and turn it in one turn of the screw at a time until it caught all of the shafts.  AVL told me that they thought that the springs were too tight, but they didn't mention that they could be too loose as well.

Nancy, your comment is well taken.  I think that the temperature change in my studio will mean that I will have to check the adjustment on the CDIV frequently during the fall/winter months.  I have read in previous posts that a CD that was in adjustment may need readjustment; I think that the combination of an adjustment-sensitive dobby and a studio with changeing temperature means that I will have to watch this.   When I bought this loom, I knew that the 30 year old electronics might work, might work for a while, might not work at all.  My backup was to install the mechanical dobby.  The CD I worked long enough to show me what a computer contolled loom can do, and installing the mechanical dobby is now much less attractive.  I really like this loom a lot, and I'm very thankful to the people who responded and gave the information I needed to put it back into service!!

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