A couple of years ago, I bought a Barbara IV, complete with manual and in very good shape. I was looking for a larger jack loom than my Baby Wolf. For me, the attaction of a jack loom is being able to change the tie-up easily in mid warp. I was initially disappointed fo find that Barbara is quite difficult to tie up with a warp in place, and had a very small, not clean shed as a jack loom. However, I found that she did very well as an 8 shaft counterbalance loom, and does 1x3 and 3x1 quite well. Her big, smooth, round back and breast beams handle extremely loose wool weaves (a favorite!) really well, and she's so pretty, so we're happy. We decided to try rep, a new weave for me. One thing that still confounded me was the tensioning. Barbara had two brake drums with steel spring brake coils. Advancing and retensioning the warp was a touchy, time consuming job. Part of this was not Barbara's fault. The less-than-completely-controlled climate in my studio had caused her mild steel brake drums to rust slightly. This makes the brake coils grab. To give them enough slack to release, they would come off the drum. Even with added leverage, I could not get enough tension to do rep. I replaced the rear drum with a ratchet from Great Northern Weaving, and a pawl from Leclerc. I spent a long time trying to devise a remote release for the pawl, then realized that the loom is wide enough that I can't reach the cloth takeup wheel, or get any real strenght on a remote release. So I simply bolted the pawl to the looml. The ratchet and pawl are mounted on a 2x4 block of cherry that takes up the width of the missing brake drum. This works very well. The pawl trips over the ratchet teeth in warping, and can be pushed up (it will stay up on its own) to stay clear of the teeth if needed. The front drum I kept. But I replaced the steel coil with a length of heavy flat extension cord. This holds and releases the rusty drum very weill. I added two small blocks for mechanical admantange (we sailors are always looking to use block and pulley systems for mechanical advantage). I have to get up to advance the warp, but in a loom this wide, I would expect to, and it is now quick and easy.
Rep
I am making upholstery fabric and pillows from patternd in Custon Woven Interiors by Marshall. She calls for 5/2 cotton at 48 epi. I did not feel that this would give me a workable fabric. I asked for some advice on this, and Joanne Hall told me that 16/2 is commonly used in Sweden for this type of fabric. I used 10/2 perle cotton, initially set at 43 epi. This didn't give me good coverage. I resleyed at 60 epi. I initially used 20/2 linen for fine weft and 2x #5 linen (about the same weight as carpet warp) for thick Not good. Changed to 5x 8/4 carpet warp for thick weft, and eureka! I still did have some problems getting this very crowded warp to give a clear shed. I found that thrumming the backs of my nails hard against the fell cleared the shed like magic.
The pictures of the ratchet and pawl did not turn out well here. If anyone has any further interest in this modification, I can take more pics.
