BUILDING A LOOM:

EXPLORATION
FINDINGS

PART 1:

RESEARCH

WHAT IS A LOOM?
JAC K LOOM, FOR REFERENCE

RESEARCH
FLOOR LOOMS & T YPES OF LOOMS

What is a floor loom, and what types are there?

Jack loom: Pushes up shafts (hold the warp threads) from the
bottom with rigid wooden mechanism; loud; nice for foldability

Counterbalance loom: Uses a pulley system to pull shafts apart in

pairs, one going up and the other down; gets large sheds, but
the shed varies

Countermarch loom: Uses another really consistent pulley system

that does a similar thing to counterbalance looms
(Floor Looms, Types of Looms)

RESEARCH
BUILDING MY OWN FLOOR LOOM

Discussion of loom construction

Lots of suggestions that just buying a loom is better

Types of wood: Definitely a hardwood

pine, birch, cherry, maple

Definitely something without knots

Suggested air-dried
(Building my own Floor Loom)

RESEARCH
"JAC K LOOMS PART 1"

asdf
(Hall, Types of Looms)

RESEARCH
HOW DO I BUILD SOMETHING?

Conversations with Mr. Riebhoff and Mr. Paige on woodworking

throughout the loom design process

Advice on working with wood and where to purchase wood

things I CANT do, that I am used to being able to do with metal

Hole clearances

Wood dimension (e.g., 2x2 wood is ACTUALLY 1.5x1.5)

(Paige, Riebhoff)

RESEARCH
HOW DO LOOMS WORK IN DETAIL?

Barbie Paulsen has been a weaver for a long time, as well as having
some design experience

Showed me around 15+ school looms at the Peninsula School

Advice on wood: most looms are made of maple

Pointed out potentially challenging to design parts

Gave me a pack of heddles, and a bobbin! (they hold the strings

going through the shafts in place, bobbins hold string to go
through th warp and make fabric)
(Paulsen)

RESEARCH
HEDDLES!

PART 2:

PAST
WORK

PAST WORK
C AD

Decided to use CAD software

Fusion360 to model my loom

Began one CAD, then

abandoned it after realizing
wood dimensions are not as
stated

Learned how to organize my

project in Fusion360, second
CAD worked better

PAST WORK
PHASES OF THE C AD

Went through many iterations

Learning curve of Fusion360

Problems with looms

Suddenly breaking for no apparent reason

wont edit anymore?

Pastel loom?

Almost complete, just a few dimensions to finish up

PART 3:

PRESENT
WORK

PRESENT WORK
C AD PROBLEMS

Entire loom mysteriously

turned pastel-colored

Changes cause loom to

freeze up

Fixed, but confused

Fusion360 still works, I just

cant edit anything

Change dimensions on jack

mechanism

PRESENT WORK
DIMENSIONING JAC K MEC HANISM

CAD wont save it

Using grapher to model a

relationship between two
lengths that need to have a
certain geometric
relationship

PART 2:

FUTURE
WORK

FUTURE WORK
WHATS LEFT?

Complete CAD

Make a BOM (Bill Of Materials)

Buy wood!

Need to know what supplies I need for construction of the loom

Probably buying from Bruce Bauer lumber

Buy a reed and shuttle

Necessary for weaving

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"BUILDING MY OWN FLOOR LOOM." WEAVOLUTION .COM. WEAVOLUTION ,
LLC, N .D. WEB. <HTTP://WWW.WEAVOLUTION .COM/FORUM/C HAT/
BUILDING-MY-OWN-FLOOR -LOOM>.
"FLOOR LOOMS." BES T FLOOR LOOMS. WOOLERY, N .D. WEB. 25 FEB. 2016.
<HTTP://WWW.WOOLERY.COM/S TORE/PC/FLOOR -LOOMS-C448.HTM>.
HALL, JOANNE. "JAC K LOOMS PART 1." FIBERARTS.ORG. N .P., 1998. WEB. 25
FEB. 2016. <HTTP://FIBERARTS.ORG/DESIGN/ARTICLES/
JAC KLOOM1.HTML>.
KIERAN , ANDREW. "BUILDING A FOLDING JAC K LOOM."
WEAVOLUTION .COM. WEAVOLUTION , LLC, 24 JUNE 2013. WEB. 25 FEB.
2016. <HTTP://WWW.WEAVOLUTION .COM/GROUP/HOME-BUILT EQUIPMENT/BUILDING-FOLDING-JAC K-LOOM-26570>.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
PAIGE, RIC H. PERSONAL INTERVIEW. SPRING 2016.
PAULSEN , BARBRA . PERSONAL INTERVIEW. 12 FEB. 2016.
RIEBHOFF, RIC K. PERSONAL INTERVIEW. SPRING 2016.
S TAUSS, BRIAN . "MAHOGANY GLIDER: ROC K AWAY THE DOG DAYS OF
SUMMER IN THIS S T YLISH SEAT." WOODCRAFT MAGAZINE APR.-MAY 2015:
38. WEB.
"T YPES OF LOOMS." GLIMAKRA: THE BES T IN SWEDISH WEAVING
EQUIPMENT. GLIMAKRA USA , N .D. WEB. 25 FEB. 2016. <HTTP://
GLIMAKRAUSA .COM/LEARNING-LOOMS-WEAVING/T YPES-OF -LOOMS/>.