Good morning! Assembly of the new to me loom is under way. The previous owner had it set up for 16 shafts. She had gotten the parts for the other 4 when she bought it, but never ended up switching it to all 20.
I tried to install them yesterday, and got quite the surprise. I tapped out the bottom rods, put Vaseline in the hole on the lam and tried to slide it on, only to find it doesn't fit. My husband came to see what was going on, and we measured and confirmed that the rods on my loom are about 1/16th inch wider in diameter than the holes in the jacks and lamms! Also, the area on the jacks and lamms where the holes are seems to be about 1/16th inch deeper than the ones on my loom, so that even though it is clearly able to take 20 harnesses, the extra 4 jacks/lamms won't fit (I measured the room left in the castle, and when you stack the four jacks together, they take up 5/16th inch more than the room left in the castle).
Anyone seen this before? I'm wondering if there was a manufacturing change in the rods/jacks/lamms between when the loom was made (late 1970s) and when the additional 4 shafts were purchased (1985?). I don't really want to have to go back to Macomber and repurchase the jacks and lamms. I'm thinking about drilling out the centers to get the extra 1/16th. Thoughts?
On another note, does anyone have a picture of a double back beam assembly with two friction brakes? The loom has two plain beams, both with friction brakes. I've got it back together as it was when I purchased it, but have a distinct lack of tension on the lower beam, and I can't see where a gentle tap on the brake would release the top beam, while a more firm tap would release both. I'll figure out how to post a picture and get that up later.
Thanks for any and all advice!