Does anyone have any tips on increasing the shed on a Macomber loom?

Comments

Tue, 08/08/2017 - 21:32

nancy3terrific (not verified)

i am having problems with this as well. If I shorten the chains attached to the shafts - will that fix it? I just put a 8.5 yard warp on don't want to shred it by manually lifting the shed behind the reed - as I have been doing.

i noticed that some of the shafts are lower than others when lifted - that seems to be causing the problem. Any help?

Tue, 08/08/2017 - 21:33

nancy3terrific (not verified)

i am having problems with this as well. If I shorten the chains attached to the shafts - will that fix it? I just put a 8.5 yard warp on don't want to shred it by manually lifting the shed behind the reed - as I have been doing.

i noticed that some of the shafts are lower than others when lifted - that seems to be causing the problem. Any help?

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 09:11

Michael White

Lets start from the beginning. You should have 11 links of chain. What type of lamms do you have? The old style with holes in the lamms or the new style? Macomber makes differance size hooks and using the new super hooks on the old style lamm will give you a poor shed. Also the postion of the beater and its cams will effect the size of the shed. Tell me more about your loom.

Michael

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 14:12

nancy3terrific (not verified)

Thanks for responding so fast! I have B4-D - so that would be a 48" weaving width. It has 8 shafts with space for 4 more and it has 16 treadles. I am using the new super hooks with the newer Lamps (no holes). The chains to the shafts all have 12 not 11 links. I switched the beater bar to the 2nd slot - no difference. I also tried increasing the tension - that made a very slight difference but not enough to matter. I have a number of extra heddles on each side of my shafts that I am not using - should I remove them? 

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 17:00

sandra.eberhar…

This sounds kind of dumb, but almost everyone had done this at one time or another - is the warp going over the back beam, and not coming straight from the warp beam?

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 17:36

nancy3terrific (not verified)

Good question - but no, it's on correctly - over the back beam and then around the warp beam (like an S-shape). And, yes I did do that 1X on another loom. I just read a comment on the Ravelry blog on Macomber looms - a person had reduced the number of links in chain that attaches the shafts to the jacks by 1 link (making it 11 links). I am going to try that - as I have 12 links in all of my chains.

Not too mechanically inclined - my guess is that I get a pair of pliers and open up the S-hooks and then just move up one link on the chain? Or should I replace completely? (They don't seem to be in bad shape.)

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 23:30

nancy3terrific (not verified)

i now have a shed! I found a pair of needle nosed pliers and moved the s-hooks up one link on the chain. Now each chain (that attaches the jacks to the shafts) is only 11 links long. Thanks for all your feedback - was very helpful and I learned a couple of new things about my "Amazing" loom (that's her name.)

Thu, 08/10/2017 - 00:53

Michael White

Increasing the tension will only decrease the shed as you are now pulling up the shafts with the warp threads. The tension only need to be so tight. Where is the warp sitting when at rest? Does the warp come off of the bottom of the beater when you raise the shafts?

Thu, 08/10/2017 - 02:29

nancy3terrific (not verified)

I backed off the tension on the warp after I saw it didn't help much at all. The warp makes a little V in the center when it is at rest (the V is where the shafts are).

No, the warp was sitting on the bottom of the beater. It now is forming a pretty good shed - with the removal of extra? links in the chain. And the bottom of the warp is staying down at the bottom of the reed with the raised shafts pick the warp associated with those shafts staying up

Thu, 08/10/2017 - 12:46

Michael White

Your shed should be about two inches. Petty good shed?

Fri, 08/11/2017 - 14:01

nancy3terrific (not verified)

Shed is excellent now! I love my loom!