Equipment Fail

with just the beginning of the 25% green Fox Fibre yarn showing at the top - click to biggify

Yesterday the fly shuttle on the left hand side began to fail again.  I wasn't able to 'throw' from the left hand side at all with just half a yard left to weave of the white weft cloth so I finished that off last night by hand throwing. 

This morning Doug examined the piston and air system and we think we have finally diagnosed the problem.  Unfortunately we're not sure what the fix will be.  I offered my opinion but Doug doesn't agree so he'll try to consult with some pneumatic people and see what they recommend.

Which meant that I still can't use the fly shuttle today.  Since I was anxious to start the Fox Fibre cloth it meant I was back to hand throwing this afternoon.

Are fly shuttles really that much faster?  Oh yes.  In the same time I was able to weave a yard and a bit (45 minutes) with the fly shuttle, I was only able to just barely scrape through 18 inches of woven cloth using a hand shuttle.  Which wouldn't be bad in itself, but the cloth is just wide enough that it puts stress on my neck and so I'm feeling the strain now.  Rather than weave again I may just shut the loom down and get cracking on the Magic text edits.   Well, I won't shut the loom down yet - but I will open those text files.  My web master will be home from his holiday today and he'll likely be expecting some work.  :}

Currently reading A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley.  In spite of the very English setting and characters in this book the author is actually Canadian.  I can't remember who recommended the series but I'm very much enjoying it and hoping AB is busy writing the next one!