Efficiency/Ergonomics

preparing to thread - Harrisville hook held with the hook facing downwards

 

The current warp is twice as wide in the reed as the scarves were so I'm back to dealing with 768 ends.  The biggest effort is getting the loom set up - from beaming the warp (winding it if using a warp chain) to threading, sleying and tying on is a massive investment in getting woven cloth achieved.

As such I have spent much of my life tweaking what I do, grabbing on to new techniques/tools as I learn about them.  Then I give myself 7 warps to see if they fit well with me, my equipment and space.

The Megado is a different loom than the AVL and I'm still working out a few issues with it.  But It's coming along.  Since the Megado is to be my 'retirement' loom, I have to figure it out and resolve a few issues with it.

I spent much of this morning trying to work out the best way to resolve one issue and I keep coming back to the one thing I don't actually want to do, but may have to, in the end.  

It's minor, though, and I still have another approach I can try, and will once this warp is off the loom.

Part of the challenge with the Megado is the lack of space to work in the 'guts' of the machine.  It's extremely well engineered and the parameters are tight.  This makes the loom 'small', as in small footprint, which is great if you don't have a lot of room.  But it also makes it challenging to get into the shafts and work with them, such as adding more heddles should they be required.  Which is part of my problem right now - I really ought to increase the number of heddles on several of the shafts.  Instead I've been adjusting my threading drafts so that shafts that need more heddles wind up on the shafts that have more heddles!  Or I tie in 'repair' heddles.  Not an ideal situation, but easier than fighting to add more TexSolv heddles.

So I've been waiting until I feel up to roping in some help and spending the time needed to do the job.  However, it won't solve the last minor irritant and until I resolve that, I'm leaving the heddle situation for now.

There are many facets to the issue of efficiency/ergonomics.  Putting more heddles onto the shafts is not ergonomic as you have to kind of bend yourself into a pretzel to do the job.  And the tight quarters means it takes time to do the job with no real way to make it easier/faster.

However, I am almost finished threading this warp, and should be able to sley and tie on, then generate my treadling, perhaps even wind some bobbins, before I finish for the day.  But that means getting down to the loom.