Just purchased my first floor loom, 1973 Leclerc Artistat 36" and have a question on the brake. 

The brake has a foot pedal release which works against a fixed spring.  Looking of pictures of other (probably newer looms) I see that the spring tension is adjustable, on this loom it is not.

This makes me think that maybe these brakes are used to maintain a constant tension on the warp, that once set properly you do not release the rear brake to advance the warp, you just reel in the front beam and drag the brake on the rear beam.

  Is my guess anywhere near accurate?  If so, is this a major advantage and do you think it would be worthwhile to try and adapt my loom?

Any suggestions?

James Skrentner

 

Comments

Wed, 03/09/2016 - 14:07

sequel (not verified)

You must release the brake slightly to advance the warp!  Otherwise you will wear out the drum prematurely.  Go to the LeClerc page on friction brakes and see if your brake is assembled correctly.  There were different versions over the years.  Does your brake hold well?  If not, the spring may be "sprung" and need to be replaced.

 

You should be able to release the brake slightly, just enough to advance the warp, and the tension should remain more or less the same as before, with only slight adjustments at the cloth beam.

 

And always, release the brake while beaming on your warp.

Thu, 03/10/2016 - 00:55

sandra.eberhar…

You can set up a warp brake system that allows you to do that; to roll cloth onto the cloth beam without manually releasing the warp beam.  Your loom doesn't have this.  This system is called a live weight system; AVL looms have it, and you can engineer your own system.  I beleive one of Osterkamp's books have the principles.  Leclerc has kits to change old brake systems to newer ones, and has brakes that keep the warp beam from releasing too much warp when tension is released.  I usually release the tension on the cloth beam first, that keeps the warp beam from spinning.

Thu, 03/10/2016 - 20:46

Skrentner

Wow! Thanks both of you for the responces. 

Sequel for telling me not to mess around with the existing brake and Big White Sofa Dog for the tip on the live brake system.   Looked around and found some examples for a live brake system that can be made and added without altering the existing brake (and it is easily built and cheap to do).  This looks like the best of both worlds.

 

James

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 01:55

sandra.eberhar…

One caveat - I have not tried cranking my AVL with live weight up to a very high tension.  AVL says you don't need as much tension with live weight; not sure if I beleive that.  Some warps I like a very tight tension on the warp (rep for one).  AVL has instructions for doing that by adding extra weights (AVL weights are about 5#, the extension arm is about 18".  I have heard that AVL looms do not do very high tension well, but I have no experience either way.  If you want to do high tension warps, like rep or weft face, I would keep the ability to back to the original brake system.

Being able to advance the warp without releasing the warp beam is incredibly convenient and fast, as well as maintaining a constant tension, which is usefull if you are making towels and want them the same size.

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 03:38

laurafry

No need to remove the original brake when using live weight.  I just lock the original brake 'off' because I use it during beaming.  Or as mentioned, when I want to do rep or some other weave structure that might require tighter tension.  I've blogged about my system several times

http://laurasloom.blogspot.com

click on the live weight tension system link