My daily weaverliness today is uncertainty as I stare at this loom.  I'm having a hard time actually believing that I must unscrew the castle from its frame and actually lay it on its back to add heddles to shafts 5-8 since I made the decision to concentrate all the texsolv that came with the loom on shafts 1-4 as I built it last year.  I'm hoping that someone has done this and can confirm that that is what you do.  Thanks!  

Comments

Tue, 04/12/2016 - 15:15

sally orgren

I googled Ashley, and couldn't find a photo of this type of loom.

If this is an Ashford, I believe you can drop the shafts out from below the castle. You do not have to take apart the castle.

I would place the loom between two chairs, so the space below the castle is open. Are there texsolv cords that come down from the top of the loom and hook around a small screw on the inside of each shaft? Loosen that screw and slide the loop in that cord over the screw to release it. Once you do that with both screws, the shaft should lower out of the castle.

For future weaving, I would put the majority of your heddles on shaft 1-4, and just keep some on 5-8. (Let's say 70-100 on shafts 1-4, and 50 per shaft on shafts 5-8). 

Remember, you can also modify drafts so you don't have to move heddles in the future. For instance, if the draft has the majority of heddles indicated for the last few shafts, just flip the draft so now they fall on the first few shafts.

Tue, 04/12/2016 - 16:22

Sue in VT

Sorry about the name mix-up!  I named her Ashley and completely blocked out her maker when I posted.  Yes, it's the Ashford 8 shaft table loom.  I'm grateful for your quick post as i was about to follow a post from the archives that suggests unscrewing the castle from the frame.....ugh!  It was hard enough putting together this loom the first time around.  So I've followed your direction and it's all done.  Now there are 100 on 1-4 and 50 on 5-8.  Amen!  Sally, if you have this loom, can you tell me the purpose of the little "beater pins" that just sit there on top of the frame that holds the levers.  It's a mystery to my husband and me!  Thanks again!

Tue, 04/12/2016 - 17:45

MPLSWeaver

Sue,

I have the same loom and I recently moved, then added more heddles.  I agree with Sally's comment; I keep 100 each on the first 4, then I have 80 on the rest.  When I need to add/move heddles, I actually just slip the texsolv cord off of the two screws, then lift the back of the loom up so that the shaft slides down at an angle and you can grab it.  By the way, I think that the screws shouldn't be tightened all the way so you should be able to take the cord off without unscrewing them.  I also found it helpful to mark the texsolv cord just above the hole that you use for each shaft with a Sharpie so that you know which one it will go back into.

The beater pins are there to hold the beater in place while sleying the reed.  You insert them in the sides while holding the beater about halfway.  I usually also leave them in when threading the heddles as it holds the beater in place (without the reed) and it's not moving around.

Tue, 04/12/2016 - 19:12

Sue in VT

Thanks MPLS weaver, for the "pin" information.  I see now what you mean. My Schact standard has a big heavy brass bolt for the same reason, but my brain didn't transfer this logic.  Now that I've put 50 heddles on 5-8, I'm browsing my favorite patterns and most take MORE than 50 on 5-8 and LESS than 100 on 1-4.  OK I see I'll need to order one more group of 100 to spread around and then I'm good to go!

Tue, 04/12/2016 - 20:01

MPLSWeaver

I'm happy to help!  I am by no means an expert, but I've gotten very familiar with the Ashford Table loom.  I have the 32" so it came with 640 heddles, and then I ordered 100 more.  I think you're right in that 50 can be too few for some 8 shaft patterns.  I find that my 100/80 split works pretty well, in fact most of the time my issue is that I have too many heddles!  I recently did a baby blanket and I had to resort to mixing in the empty heddles with the weaving because there wouldn't be enough room leftover on the sides for the extras.  One thing I have noticed is that if you have too many unused heddles bunched together on adjacent shafts, it can mess around with the shafts lowering/raising.  I either set them staggered with each other or if there's not enough room, mix them in to the "active" heddles.