CA Could use some woodworker's help to make small inkle loom

Not being a weaver, obviously, I have 0 experience points here, but I’ll point out the original mini-loom Cairenn linked showed the rear-tension peg. I’ll also note that it is a “dual tension” device, with not only the bottom rear peg offering adjustment, but also the topmost rear peg (actually block, in its case) offering adjustment.
I noted these “features” from a design perspective, but I have no idea if they’re desirable, being completely inexperienced. I’m wondering if the mini-looms, specifically, suffer from lack of rigidity if the adjuster is up front.

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@kyrithia You are correct that it appears to have two tension devices in the back; a sliding rod and a rotating paddle. Sounds like tension adjustment is better up front, so I can easily modify the design to have the single sliding tension rod up front. That would cut the costs of external hardware in half. Which means I have a spare if someone else wants to build one!

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Okay, so I have modified the design to use a single front tensioning adjustment. Unless there are any objections, this is the design I will make tomorrow!

Again, the design files are on M:\WalterAnderson\InkleLoom… if anyone else wishes to use it to make one.

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Okay, so I whittled up some shuttles per @kyrithia examples above. I had a small scrap of birds eye maple that was the right size, and being a hardwood, I expect it will hold up well. Since she showed an example made from a paint stick (pine), I used a Lowes pine yard stick I had to make three more. Don’t know how well they will hold up over time, but they are extremely cheap to make (< $0.20 each)…

As of now, I have just sanded these. Should they have any kind of finish? I am thinking perhaps a bees wax treatment?

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Walt, you might want to move the hettle peg and the peg closest to it up just a little for clearance. The warp strings go along the bottom from the tension peg (lower left when facing side of loom) to the lower right peg. By moving the hettle peg and the peg closest to it up a little, they won’t interfere with this part of the path of the warp strings.

@HankCowdog I would love to accommodate you, but I don’t know what a ‘hettle’ peg is. Could you markup the png above how you suggest I change it?

The hettle peg is the peg closest to the adjustable peg. The hettle strings are tied to it. If you number the pegs top to bottom, left to right, you’d have:

…1…2
…3…4
5…6.7…8

5 is the adjustable peg.
6 is the hettle peg.
6 and 7 should be raised so they don’t interfere with the warp strings going around 8 back to 5.

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Okay, that makes sense. Making the changes now. Good catch, and proof you should not ‘design’ something you don’t know how it works!

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Pffft!
Engineers do it all the time.
That’s why we need technicians!
:smiley:
I’ve really enjoyed watching this unfold, and I wish I could assist in the build. Even though I can’t I’m excited to see the finished product and especially to see it in use! (subliminal chant of “vid eee oh…vid eee oh!”)

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Made some progress on this on Sunday, but not as much as expected. When I etched the layout onto my scrap board, I realized the board had room for a second loom, so I etched that as well. Took just under 50 minutes to etch both boards on the Zing 30.

Cut the board out, drilled all of the holes, and started truing the edges and rounding over the corners. My bow saw blade was just a touch too large to allow me to cut out the inner opening, so will likely need to use the jig saw for that this week. I can say, when I held them, I was surprised at how small they are. But from my understanding, even this small size will require about 3 hours to set-up and complete a weaving project…

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These look beautiful. Thank you for doing this. I hope to get take a class on using these!

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Sorry I didn’t make it out Walter. Stumped my toe Sunday, literally and had to put it up and rest. Damaged the nail bed.

These look awesome.

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WOW!!! SO COOL so excited that you did this for us!

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No problem Dan. Creative Arts is going to need at least four of these looms to be able to teach classes (which is why small is good for storage), so there is still plenty of work for others to produce them at least two more of these things.

I was thinking, that since at least two members have talked about CNC’ing these things ( @kbraby and @MathewBusby ) it might be worth seeing if members would like a ‘kit’ where the primary board is CNC produced, and then the rest can be easily done by anyone even with hand tools (cutting dowels and gluing on a base). If so, a small charge for these kits could easily cover the cost of producing a few more for creative arts and allow folks to take one (or more home). The CNC’ing of these should be pretty straight forward. and you could make a lot from a single sheet of plywood…

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I’ll convert your design to CNC Router format if you want some help…

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Those are great (shuttles). One possible mod might be to round the corners (see reference pic I posted with the three shuttles) because the pointy corners could catch on threads as it passes through.

Finishing, yeah, beeswax, tung oil, etc. just needs to be smooth and minimal resistance (would beeswax let it move smoothly or be some resistance?? I know tung oil would be fine, or similar)

Yes, a lot of time in weaving, any loom, is setting it up. That’s why you may have run across monster size inkle looms if you googled images :slight_smile: doesn’t take significantly more time to run a longer thread, but it’s the number of threads that affects things. Loom waste (unweavable fiber require for setup, think as in wood drop-offs). So in the name of efficiency, many weavers will warp on enough for several projects at once versus for each individually.

Ha. So I’m have the opportunity for some free alpaca fleeces that I’m picking up tomorrow and have already announced in the spinning groups forum on fb (Dallas Makerspace Fiberholics, feel free to join) a new class project that will span across the summer. Everyone will be making new project bags, “some assembly required”! (we’re starting from fleece, then will be processing it, spinning, dyeing, weaving, constructing it…including learning to weave inkle bands for the straps. Then felting and beading for embellishment. We also have to make the tapestry looms to weave on. Another project.) Should be fun.

I’m very excited to see the finished inkle looms!

YES, on possible kits once we have a final design. It can take 1-3 hours just to warp, then a few hours to weave off a short one. So if students can just buy an inexpensive personal one, fabulous. Then a few for the classroom for folks just testing the waters in a class. But being able to take it home to work one your personal one, much better!

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I love the idea of some kits. Then folks that fall in love with inkle weaving can help make their own. I would love to finish one as a prize/gift for an arts event this summer

I love the all summer project!

I like this idea, too.

Personally I’d like to learn to use this and then make one suitable for tiny weavings (what a surprise). I’d be interested to see what modifications are required to scale it down. For instance, I’m guessing that the peg size does not reduce commensurately with the distances … but that’s just a guess.

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I think you could use ‘as is’ for small weavings, just waste more thread. I think, you tiny weavings just need fine thread.

That said, I expect you could scale by a third, and use 1/4" dowels to greatly reduce the waste.

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Re scaling small, yeah, pegs can be a little smaller. Still under tension though

My itty bitty one is double sided to support the smaller pegs. And it’s cute. Squee.

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