Show and Tell - let us know what you're doing!

[Kitwn]

Funny you mention automatic looms, 'cos I've already made one. The four shaft prototype at least. I'll try and find the video later on. It used one Arduino MEGA for the controller plus one NANO, stepper driver and motor for each shaft. Not sure if I'll ever build the finished machine, depends on the whims of the weaver and how big a house we decide to buy when we finally retire to Tasmania.

A true Jacquard loom has separate control of each warp thread so can make any pattern imaginable but is very complex as that video of the TC2 Neale linked to shows. Most looms have several shafts (4,8,16 being common), each of which lifts every 2nd, 4th etc. thread. Much simpler but the patterns are more limited, though that's a relative term as I can see what's possible with an 8 shaft loom as I type. This is the type of loom that repeats a pattern across the fabric.

The mechanism that automatically lifts the shafts ina specific series of patterns is called a dobby, derived from 'Do-Boy' since the earliest mechanism was a boy perched on top of the loom lifting shafts as required. Harry Potter comes to mind. Non-computer dobbys use pegs in a series of bars to decide which shafts get lifted for each pick (throw) of the shuttle and the bars are moved on at each pick. This can be a purely manual powered machine, the dobby is there simpy to automate the lifting of a complex repeating pattern of shafts so the eaver doesn't have to remember the complex sequence of foot work required. The loom I built which had a sequence of shaft combinations stored in an Arduino's memory and used stepper motors to lift the shafts was effectively a dobby loom, though the original requirement was simply to remove the work normally done by the weaers feet which causes too much back pain for my wife.

Edit: Found the video! Note there is no sound.
This shows the four shaft prototype but the frame is designed to fit eight shafts. The motor mounting parts were cut on the CNC router. Despite the rather Heath Robinson construction, this turned out quite well and proved the overall concept. The countermarch design has a sprung backbeam which means the tension on each thread is constant at all times. The Arduino NANO controlling each motor was progammed with appropriate accel/decel values to ensure a quick but smooth action and each shaft moves a different amount to compensate for the spacing so that the shed (the opening between the threads through which the shuttle runs) produced is wide and even.

[Doddy]

Never before have I wanted my wife to take up.... erm... making cloth. Fascinating machine!

[Kitwn]

Never before have I wanted my wife to take up.... erm... making cloth. Fascinating machine!

Even though we live in the tropics, the scarves Christie weaves on the simplest of her 3 looms sell quite well in our local craft shop and are quicker to make than you might think. Weaving is one of those hobbies that can be self-funding with a little effort, as might owning a CNC router if I can get it up to scratch.

The daft thing is, all this stuff I've been doing is just spin-offs of one starting project. C suggested I try timelapse photography of the night sky. That led to learning about stepper motors for a camera motion control dolly to make the results more interesting and everything else is just another application of stepper motors and the software that drives them, including the CNC router that makes the parts for all the other projects!!!!

[phill05]

After seeing Jaz throw out the gauntlet,

If your machine hasn't passed the Aztec test then it's not a real machine yet....

I missed this 1st time round so will add my contribution.

These were made for my wife who is blind,









All were designed in Vectric Aspire the wooden items cut on my home built machine the stonework was cut on a machine I installed at a stone company,but I've not cut the JAztec plate yet.

Phill

[JAZZCNC]

After seeing Jaz throw out the gauntlet, I missed this 1st time round so will add my contribution.

Very nice work you done there well done.. . . But you can only be in the Aztec gang if you built your own machine so your still not coming in...