Adding Parts to the Bexell Cranbrook Loom

This is a continuation of turning my four-shaft loom into an eight-shaft loom.

The rolls of Texsolv cording and the heddles I ordered arrived in the mail over the weekend. I was able to start cutting the cording after Bob helped me put the jacks, lower lamms and treadles on the loom.

I measured each piece and tried it on the loom before cutting all of them. The cording is expensive, so I didn't want to waste any, since I was cutting four to eight pieces of each length.

 Each end of the cut cording needs to be melted so it won't unravel over time. I use a candle so I don't have to use the lighter over and over.

Working from the top of the loom, the short pieces that form a "v" at the center of the loom were attached to the jacks.

I am adding a long piece at the bottom of the "v" that extends to the lower lamms.

We had to take the lamms back off because we realized we forgot to add the hooks for the other end of the cord. Bob needed to use the drill press.

Next were the cords from the outer ends of the jacks to the four new shafts. The cording works quite easily because of the evenly spaced holes. One end is threaded through the screw eye and the other end goes through the last loop on the cord and is then pulled tight.

Bob was helping to prepare the shafts for assembly. They are a simple design, with metal pegs in each end.

There is a short metal rod and longer rod and another short metal tube.

The heddles come in bundles of 100, with each end tied off with twist ties, so they don't become tangled.

The ends of the heddles are slipped over the top and bottom shaft bars before joining the ends with the metal rods.

The two rod ends are held together and the metal tube is then slid over the joint toward the bottom shaft bar.

While the heddles were still in a group, I snipped the loops at the top and bottom so they can freely move on the shaft bars. Keeping them together would make it harder to thread the loom.

They should be clipped only after installing them. If I found I had ordered the wrong size, I wouldn't be able to return clipped heddles. The heddles were very tight on the bars until I took off the twist ties and spread them out.

Since I usually thread my looms from the center to the edges, I separated and counted half to each end of the bars.

Having just had cataract surgery the day before, this was about all I could do today. Hopefully I can get more done tomorrow.