Glimakra Loom Assembly Instructions

The delivery of your Glimakra loom is an exciting time and if we are there to help you, we can assemble the loom to the point where you will put a warp on. If your loom is arriving by truck, you can follow these written instructions for assembly and warping of your loom. You will need to be there when your loom is delivered or have someone receive the loom from the trucking company. You will need to count the boxes and sign a delivery receipt. Note any visible damage on the delivery receipt if there should be any.

When you are ready to assemble the loom, lay out the parts in the area where you will assemble the loom. Review the written instructions we have sent to you. In the large box is an instruction booklet. It shows all the parts and has assembly photos.

You will need to wind a warp before assembling the shafts!!!!!

You will need to make the following decisions:

What the first warp will be.
If you are a beginner or if you do not have warp winding equipment, you can purchase my weaving kit, which has a wound warp, ready to put on the loom.
If you wind your own warp:
1. It should be short so that you will finish it quickly and move on to the second warp. The warp should be cotton or a thread you can easily handle. Plan a warp that is not the full width of the loom.
2. It should be only four shafts so that it will not be difficult to weave while you are learning to use the loom. Choose a simple project such as a couple bags or towels, scarves, rag rugs or table runners.
Whether I will use the counterbalance or the countermarch equipment. You will need to determine this according to your skill level and the equipment you have. If you have both, the counterbalance may be slightly easier for a beginning weaver, although countermarch is better for very narrow warps. Countermarch is what you will want to learn if you will quickly move on to using more than four shafts.

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Select the sett of the warp and the appropriate reed.

Determine how many cones you will be using for winding the warp. You can either make a raddle to fit this plan or use the reed to spread the warp. There are warp beaming sticks included with the loom. If you need a warping reel, shuttles, quills, winders, temples or other supplies, check my list of equipment and we can send what you will need. Refer to the Glimakra assembly booklet for beaming a warp. We also have a video available.

Assembly of the Glimakra loom

It is helpful to have one other person to help with the assembly, especially for the loom frame. It is also helpful to have the video for the warping and tie up. You can assemble the bench first as that will be easy to do. Locate the Texsolv tie up kit and read the instructions. The kit has all the tie up cord cut to the correct lengths.

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Assembly

Here is a description of the assembly and warping process.

Set out all the parts for the frame so that you can assemble the loom in place. Set aside the shaft sticks, heddles, lamms, treadles and beater for assembly later when needed. Note!!! The loom parts fit very tightly together. Do not force the beams onto the frame if they are too tight. Instead, give the wood a couple days inside your room so that it can adjust to the room's humidity. Then it will fit together more easily.
Apron cords for the warp and cloth beams can be made in three ways. If you choose to use the individual Texsolv cord for the warp and cloth beams, take those out of the tie up kit. You do not need to attach cords in the outside two beam holes if you will start with a narrow warp. Refer to my book, Tying up the Countermarch Loom, for instructions for the other beam cord methods.
You may choose to use a continuous cord for the apron to hold the tie up bar. Instructions are on page 6 of my book. Any thin, strong cord, about 1/8th inch thick will work. You will need about 15 yards for each apron if you will be weaving the full width of the loom, less if you will be weaving a narrower warp. This cord should not extend to the last hole in the sides of the beam unless you are weaving the whole width of the loom.
Design and wind a short, four shaft warp. Spread the warp across the reed and place the reed into the beater (or use a raddle) and beam the warp leaving the lease sticks in the warp. Refer to the loom instruction booklet or the video. Then secure the lease sticks to the back beam and remove the beater from the loom.
Note!!! There is a temptation to continue assembly of shafts, lamms, etc. before winding and beaming a warp. But, the tie up cannot be correctly done without a tensioned warp on the loom.

It is easier to beam the warp without the shafts in the way. It is also easier to thread the heddles without the weight of the lamms and treadles tied to them. If this is the second warp you are putting on the loom, take out the four anchor pins that hold the lamms to the shafts, so that the shafts hang freely.
Take the first bundle of heddles and using a scissors, cut all the loops at the ends. There are 100 heddles in each bundle. Take the number of heddles needed for this warp (with only a few extras) and put the heddles onto the shafts before taking off the twist ties. Assemble only the number of shafts needed. Put the number of heddles needed on each shaft. Tie a string from one end of the shaft stick to the other end to prevent the heddles from falling off. When the heddles are on all four shafts, you can stabilize the shafts by using four wire shaft pins through the holes at the ends of the shaft bars. Refer to my tie up book for diagrams.
Note!!!! Do not put all of the heddles on the shafts and do not assemble more shafts than are needed for this warp.
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Hang the shafts on the loom using the shaft holders and the counterbalance cross beam or the countermarch. You can also refer to my tie up instructions. If you do not have a copy of my tie up book, click on Tie-up Instructions and look under either counterbalance with horses or countermarch. Make copies of the pages to use later.
Hang the shafts at the back of the loom near the warp beam. You will find a hole in the castle for the metal or wooden dowel to secure the counterbalance crosspiece holding the shafts. Place the loom bench inside the loom. Using the anchor pin, adjust the height of the shafts to a comfortable height for threading.
Thread the heddles using your fingers or use a Texsolv threading/sleying hook. You can stabilize the shafts by tying them to the loom's back upright. Later when you are threading more than four shafts, you can use the longer wire shaft pins. Or for threading more than four shafts, you may want to thread the back four shafts first, then assemble and hang the front shafts and thread them. This helps to prevent threading errors.
Sley the reed. It is more comfortable to do this when the reed in lying flat. You can secure it in this position by tying two cords to make a loop on each side of the reed. Attach the cords from the castle. Place the reed horizontally and flat in these cord loops. After sleying the reed, tie the warp ends together in bundles.
Move the shafts in their shaft holders, along with the reed, to the normal position at the front of the loom and adjust the height to be approximately the height of the warp threads. It will be adjusted more accurately later.
Hang the beater on the loom. Put the reed into the beater and center the warp. Set the beater cradles so that the beater is hanging straight and tighten the screws which hold the cradles. You only need to do this the first time you set up the loom.
Tie the warp to the apron rod on the cloth beam. Adjust the tension on the warp and tighten the tension using the ratchet wheel.
Select counterbalance or countermarch tie-ups and tie up according to the instructions you have copied from the Tie-up Instructions page in this order:
1. determine the correct height for the shafts while they are in the shaft holder.
2. attach the shafts to the counterbalance horses and pulleys or the countermarch upper lamms (jacks).
3. put the lamms (both sets if countermarch) on the loom and tie them to the shafts, using anchor pins.
4. Note!!! DO NOT attach more lamms than are needed for this warp.
5. attach the treadles (as many as you need) to the loom and tie up treadles to lamms.
Take off the shaft holders and remove countermarch locking pins.
Weave 1"-2" and correct any threading or sleying errors.
Adjust treadle ties to perfect the shed, if necessary. DO NOT change any ties other than the treadle ties. If you determine that you have done something wrong, or you suspect that a cord may have tightened and become too long, put the shaft holders back on. If you have the countermarch, attach the locking pins. Go back to #11, and check each step in the tie-up. After you have determined that the tie up is correct, then you can adjust the treadle ties.
Weave and enjoy the loom. Contact me for more detailed instructions.

For further information, click on Frequently Asked Questions

For help with your loom, look again at the loom manual and the tie up instructions to see if they will answer your questions. If you still have questions, then contact me.

If you are assembling a loom other than a Glimakra, assembly will be different. Check with your loom's manufacturer for answers to your questions.

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Glimakra USA... 866-890-7314 or 406-442-0354

update 1/08