It has taken me a while, but I have a new warp on my loom.  Six yards of 10/2 cotton for waffle weave towels set 24 epi.  The warp looks great and everything is weaving fine, EXCEPT one of the sets of lams/harnesses isn't behaving correctly.  I don't know what the fix is.  I haven't looked up to find out what the problem is and I will today. Just thought I'd get your attention and maybe an easy fix. 

So, here is what is happening.  At rest, the offending set of lams and harness sticks up up top in the center.  When I stomp on number four treadle, one of the harnesses just doesn't raise up.  If anybody has a quick clue as to where I should look to fix this, it would be appreciated.

Aunt Janet

Comments

Wed, 09/15/2010 - 14:39

yukon (not verified)

Hi Aunt Janet,

I have a similar problem with my Standard.  And I too, haven't completely troubleshoot it yet!  But could a solution simply be adjusting the Texsolv cord that attaches to the troubled lam?  Raising or lowering one notch in the cord?  My issue seems to be the wooden lams bump into each other blocking free movement.  I think I have to figure put a way to seperate them and keep them apart when they raise up.

 

Hope this helps!

Margaret

Wed, 09/15/2010 - 14:49

Joanne Hall

Hi Janet,

When a shaft does not go up, that indicates that the cord on the treadle is in the wrong place.  It may be crossing another cord or a lamm, but it is not doing what it is supposed to do.  Take a good look at the treadle cords on that treadle.

Joanne

Wed, 09/15/2010 - 14:58

Joanne Hall

Hi Margaret,

The most common tie-up mistake is to tie the treadles too high.  If you lower all the treadles so that they touch the floor when the shed is large enough, you may have your problem solved.  Please note that the shed does not need to be any higher than about 1/4 inch above your shuttle where you put the shuttle into the shed.

This suggestion, of course, is based on everything else being correct.  You should have 11 inch heddles, the shafts are at the correct height and the lamms are equally distant from each other and to the shafts and the treadles.  This is also dependent on the lower lamms being longer than the upper lamms, or if you have an older loom and they are not longer, then they should be weighted by tying up an extra treadle to them.  This keeps the shafts from falling when you take the locking pins out.  

If you have more than four shafts tied up, you need to be even more careful about these things. 

Joanne

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 10:00

Aunt Janet (not verified)

Hmmm, that might be just it. I do have an older loom. I will try tying up another treadle.  I remember I had a problem with my first tie up when I was only using two shafts, and you recommended that I tie up another treadle, and it did the trick that time. 

I've had my 3y/o granddaughter all day and haven't had a chance to take a look at the loom today.  I'll adjust everything I can see, and tie up the extra treadle all in the morning.  Thanks Joanne! 

Margaret, how is yours coming along?  I don't have texsolv cord on my loom yet, it is so old.  It has the old cotton cords which I would keep if they weren't wearing out.  I'll probably replace them with the texsolv, someday.  I don't know.  I really like cotton things more than I like nylon, or texsolv, so maybe I should try to just replace the old cotton cords with new cotton.

Janet

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 11:07

Joanne Hall

Hi Janet,

The original Glimakra cords were made of linen and are a natural linen color.  The linen makes the ties secure.  And in my CM tie up book, I show the weavers knots that are used for tying up a loom.  If you want to replace the cords, be sure to get cord that is tightly spun and plied.

Joanne

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 14:19

yukon (not verified)

Thanks for the reply Joanne.

  I do have longer lower lams.  I was careful to set them up originally so that the far end of the lams are positioned slightly above horizontal (agled up a bit from the pivot point).  I read this somewhere, I believe it helps keep the shed opening consistant across the width of the loom?

My lams sometimes bump into each other.  I usually have to shake them up a bit to free them.  Do you have any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

-Margaret

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 15:52

Joanne Hall

Hi Margaret,

I started a new topic to cover tying up lamms.  I get this question a lot, in various forms, so I wrote about it in general.  Usually if the tie-up is correct, there is no problem with the lamms.

  No, do not put spacers between the lamms.  To get good sheds, your shafts and lamms should be close to each other.  Putting spacers on the attaching rod can actually cause them to hit each other. 

Just follow what I wrote in the new topic message and see if that helps.  Also, measure the length of your heddles, tie your treadles as low as possible and perhaps make your shed smaller.   And tie up as many treadles as you have shafts threaded.

Joanne

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 15:57

Claudia Segal (not verified)

To find Joanne's new post, you can go to the Dashboard or My Groups or to Groups & Forums or just click here.

Claudia

Fri, 09/17/2010 - 11:17

Aunt Janet (not verified)

I managed to straighten everything out yesterday and had a few minutes to weave.  Beautiful clean sheds!  I found one sleying error that I will fix after weaving my sample piece.  I ended up tying two extra treadles up.  One didn't do it, but then I'm not sure just how I'm supposed to tie up those treadles.  That is where am I supposed to thread the cords on that extra treadle.  Well, what I sort of figured out was that the harness that wasn't coming up as it should needed an opposite partner.  I did that, but it needed another one opposite to the first extra.  Maybe over kill, but it worked. Anyway, maybe that was because the waffle weave draft isn't balanced, uses five treadles.  does that make sense?

I'm weaving fine now. I'm still pretty slow, but happy with the cloth and the loom now. 

Good to know the cords are linen.  the ones I have have been in storage in a climate that is cool and damp resulting in deterioration.  They are breaking as I untie knots.  there were a few "shuttles" full of extra cord with the loom, so I have been replacing broken cords with that.  It seems that this cord is not rotten like the cords that are on the loom.

Thu, 09/23/2010 - 18:44

Ellen (not verified)

I use texsolv heddles and tying up system myself and really like it, but for all those other strings you need around a loom (to keep the raddle in place when beaming b-to-f, to hold the lease sticks in place, to tie around the warp etc) I love using linen cord, which you can buy here (in Denmark) in big rolls. It is fairly expensive, so you just don't waste it but use it again and again, but if it is really freyed and breaking it is nice to be able to replace it. :-)