sectionalbearing

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Sectional Beam Bearing
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Adjusting the warp tension was erratic. It seemed that I was having to tighten and loosen the brake on the sectional beam quite a often.

Looking at the sectional beam, I found that I had a problem with the bearing blocks. The Weavers Delight Manual calls these "beam boxes".

(I've found that on some computers these pictures are quite dark, while on others they are quite clear. Go figure? Maybe something to do with the Monitor settings for resolution and color.)

"Beam Box / Bearing"

Over the years the bolt that secures the bearing has compressed into the wood. (above)

This has cause the bearing to take an out of square shape. (right) The sides are no longer parallel, and when the warp is under tension, pulling on the warp beam, the bearing begins to shift position. This is what was causing my tension problems. As the bearing changed position, it was interfearing with the tension on the brake.

In the pictures above and right, notice the frame bolt, (partially hidden), directly below the bearing block. This is one of the bolts that holds the looms frame together. This is the bolt that I am replacing with a piece of "all thread".

There is a gap, bearing is not sitting flat, and this allows the block to shift. This causes the tension on warp/sectional beam to be erratic.

I bought a 36" long piece of "all thread" from the hardware store. The thread is 3/8"-16, this matches the thread of the original bolt. I cut a piece of this all thread 9-1/2" long and added a nut, washer and lock washer.
The wood was a piece of scrap approximately 4" X 1-1/2" X 3/4". I dilled a hole a little larger than the bolt, 1-1/4" from the end.

The "all thread" replaces the origianl bolt that is located below the "beam box"/bearing. It does double duty now, holding the loom together and securing the bearing clamp in place.

This picture may be too dark to show, but the beam box is now secure and sitting pretty much flat. Tension control seems to have improved.

New bearing blocks should probably be made, but this was a quick and simple fix. The parts are low tollerance and made with a few hand tools. It works, and knowing me, I will prbably leave it like this.