Hello all!
So I heard some time ago about the Siever's school loom which one could buy plans for. Apparently you can't get the plans anymore, no matter how many different turns of phrase you throw into google.
Anyway, the loom is a folding jack loom, consisting of an x-shaped frame, which folds in the middle, where it is attached to the castle which has what appears to be a double half-lever push-up jack action.
I believe the baby pup loom is basically the same thing, in a slightly more refined design.
The beauty of it of course is that you can have a 3' deep loom that when folded is about 1' deep and much easier to transport.
So I've started designing the thing, after coming across a handy find of building wood being thrown out in good condition with hardly any nails or screws in at all.
I've started documenting the process of designing and building this thing on a page on my blog
http://weave4fun.blogspot.com/p/loom-building.html
I'm doing this because I really have no idea about woodwork so I think it'll be interesting, as I'm just diving in with a bit of common sense and the basic ability to use a jig saw and a drill. As someone who considers his woodwork skills to be rubbish, it's a big challenge and I expect to make a lot of mistakes
which leads me to my question: has anytone here made something similar, have you any lessons you could share? is there maybe siever's loom plans floating about I could buy?
Also, I should add, I'm going to install an electronic pick controller in it, between the pedal and the jack action. It'll be a push-up dobby, which I'm not sure has been done in hand loom form before. I do this as I happen to have already done the electronic and programming work last year when adapting a mechanical top-lifting dobby to electronic control and it just seems like a good idea.Having used an electronic dobby, I don't fancy the idea of going back to a multi-pedal loom
Cheers
Andrew