Now that she's home with us, we've discovered that she's from the early 1970's, which makes her about 40 years old. She hasn't been used in awhile, but is in good shape.
So far we have:
- Wiped down and vacuumed everything.
- Tightened up the frame.
- Adjusted the beater so that it will strike the fell evenly.
- Added bumpers for the beater, so wood doesn't clunk into wood.
- Cleaned up the apron bars (which are literally bars of metal), and replaced one that was bent.
- Resewed the ends of the aprons, which had been sewn on just crooked enough to make the aprons a bit skewed (probably why that bar was bent!) Also patched one spot where the warp beam apron tore at the end, likely where the bent apron bar was. It would drive me nuts trying to keep even tension on a loom where the apron rods are skewed by about an inch. With the warp beam, which has a longer apron, it was relatively easy to set the sewing machine next to the loom and sew the end of the apron. With the cloth beam, we took off the beam and set it on the ironing board which was next to the back beam, so that the cloth beam rested against the back beam. DH moved the cloth beam while I sewed. I was truly dreading this project, but it turned out to be easier than I thought - certainly easier and cheaper (free) than installing new aprons, or replacing them with texsolv cords.
- Put the brake on correctly (it was on backwards) and figured out how to work it. Still trying to find out how to make it work more effectively. Right now, whenever the brake is released, the band that wraps three times around the drum gets misaligned and must be manually fixed. Probably will need to replace the brake mechanism in the long term.
- Got some molding (about one inch wide) and cut it into 40 inch lengths, so now I have slats to use to pack my warp (and also for packing around the knots at the start of my weaving). DH sanded the rough spots and even put on Howard's Feed and Wax, so the wood feels lovely. I'm not a fan of paper, and the cardboard slats I use for the table and rigid heddle looms won't be strong enough when I'm working with the high tension of rugs, so wood is perfect. (Also had a chance to see how much better wood keeps tension consistent - as opposed to paper - during a recent rug-weaving class.)
Still to do:
Get shoe laces and similar doodads that help during warping for holding the lease sticks and raddle.
Just about to add texsolv cord to lash the apron (with the apron rod that inside the ends of the apron) to the exterior apron rods. Just did this on my Dorothy table loom, and it was so easy.
Also am going to wind a test warp and dress the loom, because until I actually use this loom - especially since it's a counterbalance where I'm used to a jack loom - I still don't know what I don't know about Mira.
