Sunday, October 20, 2013

Frame loom modifications

It's been quite awhile since I've had time to make a post.  This one will be quick... I wanted to show a couple of photos of a recent bout of loom modifications I've made.  I do this sort of thing occasionally, adapting or modifying looms for some reason or another.  This time I wanted to add length to two of the fame looms I have, a Hagen loom (Norwegian origin) and a Mirrix.  Additionally, I've added leashes to the Mirrix-modifiation in a temporary way using C-clamps.  First the Mirrix-mod:


The top and bottom of the loom are the Mirrix; the gray pipe that's on the sides is the extender part that is from my Hagen loom.  I've added a threaded rod and two nuts at the top of that and those are going into the upper copper pipe part of the Mirrix sides.  The whole thing is sitting in a floor stand that's for my Hagen loom.  And the leashes are attached by way of the C-clamps at the top of the loom.  I've padded the aluminum part of the top of the frame to keep the clamps from scratching the metal.  The extenders and the extra bit of threaded rod in the sides have added about 18" of height to the loom.

In my quest to make taller frame looms to use at a couple of demos, I also adapted my Hagen loom by making new extenders with a 48" aluminum rod, cut into two 24" pieces.  These are slipped over the threaded rods at the sides of the loom.  Now the loom has a warp that's almost 40" high and the weaving distance has been increased by about 10-12" of what was possible with the 15" extenders that I normally use on the loom (the ones on the Mirrix shown above).



Both of these looms were sold with a shedding device.   I don't like to use the shedding device on either loom and long ago I had the Hagen loom drilled at the top to have two 8" eye bolts extended out to hang a leash rod.  I didn't want to drill through the Mirrix quite yet so decided to temporarily use the C-clamps.

I also don't like to use the spring spacer for warps that come with both these looms so those were taken off.  I much prefer to do the spacing myself and that works just fine.  I also like to use a single plane for the warp rather than making a continuous warp to extend length... hence the desire to make the loom as tall as possible.

Both looms will be well used in this new configuration and then put back as they were as none of the modifications have permanently altered either of the looms.  Even through I've drilled through the Hagen loom's frame, the eyebolts can come out and the shedding device can be added again, as with the Mirrix.

Adapt and modify to whatever suits your needs, I say!