The Home Stretch

Almost done weaving this drapery yardage!  Here is the warp for the second of two runs going onto the beam.  It's sure nice to have a tension box that's meant for the loom.  I should get the right one for my other loom.  This one from AVL has adjustable tension rods, rotating reed on the front, a yardage counter and heddles to form a cross.

VLP Update

Beaming went fairly smoothly, though it took a day.  There were a couple warp ends that somehow didn't make it into the section bundle, so I had to add some weighted ends, and a couple ends which caught on the pegs where I will have to deal with them being loose when I get to where the extra length is.  Threading the 1200 ends was another day.

Very Large Project Start

Spools of warp for the VLP.  20 spools each of 20/2 and 5/2 cotton.  Just the scale of this thing brings up a different set of problems to solve, like how much yarn fits onto my spools.  The spools with the thin warp have enough on them for half the entire project.  The thick yarn would not fit even that much on a spool.  What I have here is enough for 1/3 of the sections for half the project, or 1/6 the total amount I'll need.  For the second half of the project I'll try to get half the sections onto a spool.  I think by the time I'm through I will regret not having invested in an electric winder for bobbins and spools.

That's A Lotta Warp

In contemplating an upcoming Very Large Project, I wondered how much warp can I put on my Macomber's sectional beam?  I've never had it anywhere near full.

And the answer, for 5/2 cotton at 10 ends per inch, is...

...we may never know, because I stopped at 80 turns.  On my 3/4-yard beam that means 60 yards.  More, I guess, since the circumference grows as the yarn piles up.

Now, it didn't really occur to me when I got the bright idea to do this little experiment, but what on earth am I to do with a 1-inch wide, 60-plus-yard long warp?

Day-after-Thanksgiving project: Re-stringing the Macomber

Well, here's a project for a late November day.

For a while now, I've been wanting to replace the apron strings on the warp beams on my Macomber loom.  These are the leader strings that the warp is tied to in the sectional beaming process.  Every time I would put a new warp on, I would cross my fingers and hold my breath, hoping that one more of these frayed strings would not break.

You can see some in the picture where I have tied in an extension with some waxed linen that was the wrong weight.

After looking at how Eddie of Macomber Looms re-strings a plain warp beam, I decided I ought to rig up some way to measure the strings as I was putting them on, to get them all approximately the same length.  This is the jig I came up with.  I used the board that I have been using a raddle with my other loom, duct-taped (aka duck tape) to the floor at an angle.  I placed it so that the old strings went around each nail.  Here I've started to take the old strings off.

The strings were actually one long continuous string, attached with small staples, and a half hitch knot.  This is a picture of the old strings before I took them all off.  I wasn't able to pry out those staples without gouging the wood of the beam somewhat.

Then I used the jig to measure the length of each loop of string, stapling each and tying the knots as I went across.

Then I repeated the whole process with the bottom beam.

...and yay!  New apron strings for my sectional warp beams!  Hopefully they will last as long as the first set, which was over 50 years if these beams are original to the loom.

I also replaced the little ties that hold the front tie-on rod to the cloth beam apron (first photo above).

Warping a sectional beam - #3: last step before threading

The yarn was wound onto spools in step #1, then wound off the spools onto the warp beam in step #2, now we're going to partially unwind it back off of the warp beam so there's enough length to thread through the heddles on the loom.  I know, seems like a lot of wind-on, wind-off, repeat!  But of course it's really important to keep the yarn neat and under control, and this does it.

So next I transfer the ends each section of warp, still stuck on the pieces of tape, from the warp beam to a rod that I have now suspended from the back beam.  This is so that I can simultaneously unwind all the sections, a distance enough to get them threaded through the heddles.  You can see the wire heddles there in the background waiting to be threaded.

Next I slip the rod out of its hanging cord, and unwind the warp beam carefully while holding the rod.  I have found that if I unwind until the rod gets about to the front of the castle, in front of the upper jacks, it is a good length to pull through the heddles.

Look inside the loom in this photo; at the bottom of the loom behind the lower jacks.  I have put a piece of cardboard down there, in preparation for what I do next.

Now I've moved the cardboard up over the beam... 

...so that when I drape the warp down into position behind the heddles, it doesn't catch on the warp beam spikes.  It can be really annoying when it does that while I'm threading.  I'd be interested to know of different solutions people have come up with for this problem.  I've tried a towel, but I think I like the cardboard better.

So now the rod gets suspended from the castle, at a convenient height to reach through from the front of the loom while threading.

Everything from here on out is the same as when threading back-to-front on a loom with a standard warp beam.  The only difference is that instead of the warp ends being held on lease sticks behind the heddles, they are held on this rod with pieces of masking tape, one inch per piece of tape.  So when I thread, I count out 1 inch worth of heddles, bring the next piece of tape with its ends stuck to it and stick it somewhere convenient, usually the cloth beam, and thread as normal for a standard beam loom.

Ready to thread!

Warping a sectional beam - #2: Winding onto the warp beam

Continuing from the last post on sectional warping, next those 24 spools are put on a spool rack.  If your "packages" are not spools but rather cones or spills, etc., they would go onto an appropriate apparatus to deliver the yarn off them instead.

From each spool, the yarn is run over to the tension box which is attached to the back of the loom near the warp beam.

The cords running vertically up the middle of all the spools are to keep the yarn from catching on the edges of its cardboard spool.  It's important that the yarn comes off smoothly and consistently.

I've also found that I need to keep the spools from wandering over to the frame of the rack.  In the column of spools closest to the camera, you can see some tiny wooden thread-spools I've put there to act like separators; these seem to do the job.



In this next photo you can see the yarn going through the tension box.  Each yarn goes through a bit of reed, then back and forth through those tensioning dowels, and out through another comb where they are all hanging down there now, tied together in a knot.

This is not the type of tension box designed for my loom.  It's just one I got for a cheap price.  It's designed by LeClerc Looms for use on a LeClerc loom.  My loom is a Macomber.

The tension box is normally supposed to sit so the yarn takes a more direct route to the beam, usually more horizontal.  Mine is sitting vertically, clamped on with grip clamps, because that's how I can get it to fit on my back beam.  I should invest in the right tool someday...

Here's that knot in the group of warp ends hanging down from the tension box.  I have attached it to the leader cord of one of the sections on the sectional beam, by making a "lark's head" knot in the leader and tightening it around the warps just above the knot in the warps.

As the warp beam is turned, the leader cord draws all the warp ends taut and starts to wrap them onto the warp beam.

The plastic tubing looking things are guides that I made from aquarium tubing.  I put them on the sectional beam "spikes" so the spikes don't pierce through the group and get some of the warps into the wrong section.


As the beam continues to turn and the knot is no longer affecting the group of threads, the warp section spreads out nicely.  This is where those guides come in handy to keep them in the right section.

As I mentioned in the previous post, this project needs 3 turns worth of warp in each section, so I turn the beam a total of 3 times.  My loom has a crank on the end of the beam, with a clicker-counter to count the turns, but for a shorter warp like this one I usually just turn it with my hand on the beam, and count out loud to myself every time I go past the knot.

When 3 turns are complete, I put a piece of masking tape across the group of warps, pressing to make sure I get them all stuck to the tape, and cut the warp just above the tape.

Then I stick the tape to the beam, tie a new overhand knot in the warp, move my guides to the next section, and I'm ready to attach to the next leader cord.

Repeat for each section across the width.  Next installment will be bringing the ends near the heddles to prepare to thread.

Warping a sectional beam - #1

When I first acquired my loom that has a sectional beam, I looked in the books I had, and then on the internet (searching "how do I warp my sectional beam") to find information on how to use it, and found that what is out there is a little short.  From what I was able to dig up, I've worked out my way of warping my sectional-beam loom.  So I thought I'd post here how I do it at least, with the thought it may help someone searching as I was.

Instead of putting the whole width of the warp on the beam at once, like you do on a standard warp beam, the warp gets put on in "sections" (hence the name "sectional warp beam").  The first thing you need to prepare is one "package" of yarn for each warp-end in a section.  These packages could be cones or spools, or I suppose even balls of yarn.

My sectional beam has 1-inch sections, and the project I am making is 24 ends per inch.  So I need 24 packages.  In my case, I am winding 24 of the cardboard spools in the photo.

The yarn I bought came on a cone, which I have sitting on the floor.  The yarn goes through a stick with holes drilled in it - the tension helps my yardage counter work better.  Then it goes through the counter and onto the spool which is fitted onto a bobbinwinder.

My sectional beam is 3/4 of a yard per turn, and I will be putting 3 turns worth of warp onto each section, 3 x 0.75 = 2.25 yards.  Adding 2 tenths of a yard for a knot and some overlap gives 2.45 yards per section.  I will be using 40 sections (since I want my project to be 40 inches wide in the reed), so I need to measure 2.45 x 40 = 98 yards onto each spool.  If you are used to doing the calculations for a standard beam, the math logic may seem kind of "sideways" until you get used to it.

I guess "yardage counter" is a bit of a misnomer since my counter actually counts feet and not yards.  Sigh.  98 feet x 3 ft/yd = 294 feet.  So I'm running the counter up to 300 feet "for good measure", as they say.

If you just buy a bunch of tubes or cones, then you could skip this whole step.  I don't buy yarn in anywhere near that kind of quantity, so I divide it up as I need it for each project.

Next installment, winding onto the beam, where you'll see my jury-rigged tension box and an alternative application for aquarium tubing.  Stay tuned...