Hello all,

I've finally got my fly shuttle attachment up and running thanks to information generously provided to Joanne Hall.  It's part of a hoard of stuff that came with my second hand, 150cm width Glimakra countermarch loom.  So far I've found that it's difficult to prevent too much draw in using the fly shuttle.  Perhaps this will improve with more practise, or by using a temple (something I need to buy) but I imagine that would slow down the weaving which would kind of defeat the purpose of using a fly shuttle (I haven't needed a temple for weaving the same fabric with boat shuttle). 

I'm determined to master it, because I want to weave wide throws (up to 145cm), and I can't imagine how I could possibly throw and catch the shuttle by hand with this sort of width! I'd really appreciate it if any experienced weavers could share any tip for weaving wide, either using a fly shuttle or indeed traditional boat shuttle.

Comments

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 23:53

laurafry

You may need to adjust the tension on the thread.  It should be possible to weave without excessive draw in.

cheers,

Laura

Wed, 01/14/2015 - 02:07

sandra.eberhar…

If you are weaving a wide warp, you my need to make extra allowances to get enough weft in the pic; just slanting it across the shed may not be enough.  When I weave on my 8' Kebec, I scallop the weft across the shed as if I were making a weft faced fabric, to get enough weft to avoid draw in.  

Wed, 01/14/2015 - 18:15

Nicola

Thank-you folks,

These are very helpful suggestions.  When I had another look and tried these out I realised that it's not the width that's the problem, as the selvedges are fine when I use my hand shuttle.  It seems that there is too much pull on the yarn coming out of my fly shuttle, causing the weft to draw in the selvedges. 

When I get back to the studio in a couple of days I'm going to try altering the tension device on the shuttle and see if this helps. In my fly shuttle, the yarn has to go under a little bar with tension spring so that it travels the right path through the shuttle and doesn't catch on the end of the pirn. If I can fix this spring down it might help.  My current warp is only 60cm/24" wide but I just want to get it working with this before I try a wider warp.  Out of interest, have any of you woven wide warps (say over 48") with a hand shuttle successfully or is the fly shuttle the way to go in your opinion?

I am using quite a hairy 2/6Nm woollen yarn, which probably also makes it difficult!  I'll post again when I get a chance to try a few more things...

Wed, 01/14/2015 - 18:26

laurafry

You can, but it is less fatiguing to use the fly shuttle, especially if you are short/have short arms...

I am 5' 9" and can do it but it requires a lot of reaching.  :)

cheers,

Laura

Thu, 01/15/2015 - 02:04

Bonnie Inouye (not verified)

I have some different kinds of flyshuttles. One has a very simple, minimal tension coming from a small piece of metal that guides the yarn coming off the pirn. I use that shuttle for weft with slubs or fuzz. The others have adjustable tension. For me, the flyshuttle is helpful even when weaving table runners but especially for blankets or anything wider than 36" or so. I can do it by hand, even quite wide warps with lots of leaning over- but those were when I was rather young. I bought my flyshuttle loom in 1987 and I enjoy weaving big pieces. I am a little over 5 feet tall. My reach, fingertip to fingertip is probably around 5 feet, the width of my widest loom (60") but I have to stretch to insert the shuttle and then to catch it. The flyshuttle makes it so easy!

Bonnie Inouye

Thu, 01/15/2015 - 10:19

ReedGuy

I also suspected tension on the flyshuttle. I have found the selvedges are pretty nice with a flyshuttle because the weft is angled well and consistant. By hand your mind sometimes wonders and not every throw is the same. ;)

Fri, 01/16/2015 - 06:04

Kate in Scotland

I mounted a rotary temple on my 150cm CM loom, and my draw-in woes are over. (http://www.firesidelooms.com/rotary-temple)

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 13:26

Nicola

That's great, thanks for all your comments, I haven't got back to the loom yet but will definitely persist with the fly shuttle as it sounds like the best way to get weaving big pieces.  The rotary temple sounds very useful Kate, another piece of equipment to add to my wish list!

 

Mon, 02/16/2015 - 15:22

Nicola

Hello again,

I've got into the swing of using my fly shuttle attachment and feeling confident enough now to try weaving my first wide throw. One small issue with my fly shuttle that is causing a problem though - my yarn keeps catching on the end of the quill / pirn as it approaches the last quarter of the yarn wound onto it.  There's no brand name on the shuttle and it came with my loom (second-hand), but the space is very short inside it meaning that I can only use cardboard quills or modified plastic pirns.  I imagine the problem is something to do with the physics of the shuttle as I've been very careful winding the yarn in the way that is recommended.

It's impossible to use the last quarter of the yarn on each quill as the yarn catches and breaks or causes the shuttle to stop mid-throw. Not adding to the efficiency of my weaving at all then!

 

So I was wondering if any of you fly-shuttle weavers can recommend a particular brand / model of shuttle and pirn that works for you, or give me an idea of what might be going wrong?

Mon, 02/16/2015 - 15:19

Nicola

Hello again,

I've got into the swing of using my fly shuttle attachment and feeling confident enough now to try weaving my first wide throw. One small issue with my fly shuttle that is causing a problem though - my yarn keeps catching on the end of the quill / pirn as it approaches the last quarter of the yarn wound onto it.  There's no brand name on the shuttle and it came with my loom (second-hand), but the space is very short inside it meaning that I can only use cardboard quills or modified plastic pirns.  I imagine the problem is something to do with the physics of the shuttle as I've been very careful winding the yarn in the way that is recommended.

So I was wondering if any of you fly-shuttle weavers can recommend a particular brand / model of shuttle and pirn that works for you, or give me an idea of what might be going wrong?

Mon, 02/16/2015 - 15:28

Nicola

Apologies for the repition of my last post, not sure what happened! Just to mention for future readers - the initial problems I posted about turned out to be the yarn tension going through the shuttle. After a bit of fiddling I realised I could thread the yarn so that it would 'by-pass' the built-in tension bar of the shuttle to free it up a bit. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions in relation to this!

 

Mon, 02/16/2015 - 17:32

Isarwinkler

I sent a mail to Fireside, but did'nt get any answer. Does anybody know wether Fireside still exists?

Gernot

Mon, 02/16/2015 - 18:37

laurafry

Nicolas, the yarn catching on the pirn might be an alignment issue. Is the pirn level in the shuttle? If not it could cause the yarn to catch on the tip of the pirn. Sometimes there are small screws that can be used to adjust the alignment of the pirn. If not, I would look for a Crossley shuttle I think AVL sold them at one point. Cheers Laura
Mon, 02/16/2015 - 20:53

MMs-and-OOs-Ha…

Best to call them East Coast time.
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 10:31

Nicola

Laura, thank-you for your suggestion, I hadn't thought of that.  It may well be the issue so I'm trying to raise the pirn shaft a little with putty adhesive, will see if that works.  Another model on the way from ebay to try too! Must also keep an eye out for a Crossley shuttle.

Ps. Your efficient weaver video has been very helpful for me at this stage!

Tue, 03/29/2016 - 08:11

beehoney4u

We have a Glimakra 1.2 m countermarche loom (bought new) and have added a secondary sectional warp as well as a fly shuttle assembly (all Glimakra). We have had a major problem with the shuttle falling off track when weaving projects ( the shuttle falls on the floor). We are both right-handed people and the problem exists almost entirely when we are 'throwing' the shuttle left to right (works fine in the opposite direction). I am presently double weaving a large blanket but this problem is making the process very show and frustrating as I am spending most of my time either picking up the shuttle or 'un-weaving mistakes when the shuttle falls through the warps when it goes off track. We really like the fly shuttle when it works properly (very seldom). I have adjusted the tension of the warp and that has helped a little but why does the shuttle problem exist in only one direction? Any suggestions as to a fix? Thanks,

Wed, 03/30/2016 - 01:30

sandra.eberhar…

I would check your shuttle race for square and level.  I have a Glimakra fly shuttle and have never had a problem with it becoming unboxed (coming off the race).  I am using a Leclerc shuttle with it.

Wed, 03/30/2016 - 17:10

merryamethyst

I've had my cm loom with fly shuttle for about 8 months now. I have to  yank the cord from side to side to operate it.

For several weeks, I had problems going from right  to left - I am ambidextrous, but incline to the left. I realised I was pulling back at the very end of the yank, which veered the shuttle off course and sent it flying. I noted a point on my beater towards which I should've been pulling, and aimed for it  with every pass. In a few weeks, the problem was almost gone.

In one of my next warps, the shuttle started flying off when I moved from left to right. After watching myself, I noticed that a couple of sheds didn't have smooth floors on that side, causing the shuttle to veer off.

Maybe you can check for these two signs??

aparna

Fri, 04/01/2016 - 00:54

Michael White

getting an education on fly shuttles. I have only seen one in operation and did not take the time to study it. I was thinking that the shuttle hit and reset a spring when it returned home and the string was used to release the spring to fire the shutte to the other side. Well I was wrong; it is the "string" that throws the shuttle from side to side. Now I understand this action. Next question how does a multi shuttle box work?


Thanks


Michael

 

 

Fri, 04/01/2016 - 06:49

kerstinfroberg

A multi-box (mine is only 2) has to have a way to get the picker "out of the way" (go all the way back to the outside) so that the boxes can be shifted.

In this post (in the AVL forum) there are some pictures  (which I supposedly could find somewhere in here, but have not the time right now)

The picker rides on the rail, and has an elastic (I *would* like a metal spring, but as long as it works...) called, in AVL-speak "picker return", which is essential for the function. If the picker is not "returned" properly, it sits in the way for the box to be shifted. (On the AVL the shifting is done with a handle on top of the beater)

Fri, 04/01/2016 - 13:52

Michael White

I have worked on the electronics on a couple of AVL looms at the universities were I maintain the looms. (they purchase yarn from me and I work on the looms without charge) The nice thing about AVL is the detail manuals they have online. I just watched the video of the "Industrial" AVL loom. This loom uses air to drive the shuttle (the way I throught all fly shuttles worked) and the manual has detail pictures of the multi boxes.

 


Sat, 04/02/2016 - 13:28

sandra.eberhar…

Michael, I have a four box AVL fly shuttle, and can send you pictures if you like.  I have three fly shuttle looms; two of them I have refitted the control cords to offer a mechanical advantage; this takes a little fiddling but gets rid of some of the off center pull problems noted above.  The AVL already uses mechanical advantage (sailors are very fond of mechanical advantage).

Sat, 04/02/2016 - 13:38

Michael White

there is a big differance between pulling up sails hand over hand and using a winch, i have done both.  I would love to see detail pictures of your fly shuttles.

[email protected]

Tue, 04/05/2016 - 15:44

Joanne Hall

Try to determine if there is any difference in the two sides, especially the moving parts.  Look to see if anything might cause friction.  About 6 years ago Glimakra changed the leather cups which catch the shuttle to a new type.  The old syle works fine, but if it is old, it might need to be replaced.  Check with Sarah if you want to get new catchers.

[email protected]

Joanne