Loom Abuse

 

Wear and tear?  Or Abuse?

I weave.  A lot.  I have worn out a lot of loom parts over the years, first on the AVL, and now?  The Megado.

One time I posted to a group online asking about a 'wear' issue on my fairly new (at the time) Megado, and speculated if the TexSolv cord had stretched.  One person adamantly insisted that TexSolv cord doesn't 'stretch'.  Something about 'everyone knows' - except me, apparently.

In my experience, I knew that it can - and will.  But not, apparently, in their experience.  So I ignored them and finally managed to get through to Louet, who promptly told me how to shorten a stretched cord.  

Well, not only does TexSolv cord stretch, it can wear out.

I had been noticing something 'off' about the loom for a while, but given my current health issues, I blamed myself for poor shuttle handling, and just concentrated on doing 'better'.  But yesterday I finally 'saw' something very odd - one shaft was not lifting as high as the neighbouring shafts.

I made a note to check it more closely next time I went to the loom (I was just stopping for a break), and then checked the shafts and the cords.  Had a cord slipped off a pulley?  Had that happen previously, so expected that was the issue.  But no.

It took a while to notice the problem because it looked almost 'normal' just looking at it.  It was only when I moved the shaft around a bit and poked at the cords to see if they were out of alignment that the last few 'threads' making the 'hole' separated and oops.  At this point, it would be rather 'dangerous' to keep weaving, so I've asked Doug to repair the cable.  I have 'extra' cord, and the fasteners to join pieces of the TexSolv cord.  I could do it myself, if my back weren't hurting so much, and the bending and poking around and the strength to fasten the repair and original cord back together is a bit 'much' for me, right now.  Otherwise I would do it myself.

But I have the documentation for the Zoom presentation in July to put together for the host, and it's lunch time, plus he's in the middle of fixing something else, so I'm going to stop gnashing my teeth and be calm/patient (a hard ask on a good day), and let him do it.  

New weavers should be aware that sometimes it really *is* the loom!  But if you don't understand the mechanics, you might not be able to target the problem, or how to fix it when you do.  And then you ask to see if anyone else has experienced the issue and what they did to fix it.

The person who chastised me about the other problem didn't know me.  Didn't know my decades of experience weaving on 'complex' looms.  My understanding of the physics of weaving.  Their comment about 'everyone knows TexSolv doesn't stretch' was not the least bit helpful, (nor accurate) so I try very hard not to be condescending when answering such questions posed by others.  But neither have I asked a question on that particular group again.

Because I can forgive, but I don't forget.