Friday, January 30, 2009

Giant Step Forward

Today is the day that my Toika Liisa loom stops looking "like a child's bed", and starts getting more recognizable as a loom.


We decided to replace a plate on the loom. Ripley & Son Machine Shop did a great job with this - fast, friendly and a good price!

Plus they made me laugh. They asked how many RPMs (revolutions per minute) the shaft would be moving. It's the shaft for the warp beam, and I'm happy with even a revolution an hour!!


Jim re-designed one plate because the screws in the old plate were loose and crooked. We discovered that the original Toika plates had screws on opposite sides of the loom frame practically touching. Plus one of the holes was very close to the edge of the wood - so we were concerned we'd crack the loom frame.

Ripley's made the new, larger plate, and then Jim primed it, painted it, and installed it on the loom.








The new plate is just a little bigger than the old one, so the screws from each side of the loom frame don't interfere with each other.


A thing of beauty! (Never thought I'd say that about something metal that's not jewelry, did you?)


Once we had the warp and cloth beams and the brake in place, we used a mallet to stabilize the loom. It's a really cool design (which I think is similar to most Scandinavian looms). The loom is held together by eight pegs, so when it's time to move it, the pegs come out and the loom comes apart.


We added the back, breast and knee beams....it's really starting to look like a loom!


Tonight, to torment myself, I hung the first shaft on the loom. It needs a bit of clean-up and adjustment - so a warp thread will pass through the center of the eye of the heddles when the shaft is hanging normally.


That's definitely another project for another day!

4 comments:

Dorothy said...

Hi Sue, I just had the pleasure of catching up with you and reading a couple of week's posts in one go! I share your interest in knitting socks, enjoyed reading about them and of course I'm very interested in the progress of your Toika loom. Not just because it's a Toika and a lovely loom with lots of potential, but also because I like to see a restoration project and something useful that was neglected being brought back into use. Ripley & Son Machine Shop have done a good job there, it's good to know people who can do engineering craft work. and are happy to help with an odd one-off.

My loom doesn't have that nice system of pegs to hold together, it uses a rather cruder system of bolts, some with wing nuts, but then the Nojanna is the junior of the Toika range.

Life Looms Large said...

Good to see you here!!

I was looking at the Toika website, and it appears that the Liisa and the Eeva are the two Toika looms that are assembled with pegs. I think it's to make it possible to move those big looms into a normal-sized house. It is a really ingenious design.

I made more progress with my loom today - and I even think I know what I'd like to do as my first warp. Getting closer!!!

See you online soon!

OzWeaver said...

Sue,

Wow! What a great loom! I'm so excited for you! Enjoy it!

Brenda

Anonymous said...

Your loom looks so perfect in its space. I'm enjoying all the technical details. Armchair loom restoration.