Posted by Roy Laws on Monday, 10 September 2001, at 1:35 p.m.:
In Reply to: building a floor loom posted by Richard Murray on Saturday, 1 September 2001, at 11:58 p.m.:
You might consider a Swedish type loom. The construction is very straightforward with no complicated joinery etc. All parts can be home made with the exception of the reed, which can be ordered from any supplier in whatever weaving width you might desire. (Of course you must be sure to either build loom for the size you have in mind or be sure to order appropriate width if loom already constructed by the time you wish to order it. Check out the photos of various types such as Glimakra or Varpapu by doing a search on Google or other search engine. If you are good at estimating sizes by comparing various parts of the picture, it should be possible to build a complete loom with no "plans." As long as everything is sturdy, and the front/back and two sides are parallel with one another, there is really nothing critical about measurements. After all, the original builders didn't have printed plans to start, they just built and modified over many years (Centuries?) until they came up with a very functional design.
In consideration of the mechanism for the shafts (sometimes called harnesses) I would recommend either the regular or vertical contra march. These two setups give the best overall performance for many different types of weaving. I would strongly recommend against building a "jack" type loom because while the mechanism is fairly simply to build, the use of jack looms is not as easy. Also, I would strongly recommend using the Texsolv system for headles and tieups. It makes the whole thing very easy.
You can find discussions of the various aspects of loom use and construction on the web.
Good luck with your project.