Looms for sale by Shirley Wilson
Member of Richmond Weavers Guild
If interested, please call 804-320-4894
MACOMBER WEAVING LOOM FOR SALE
The Macomber has a 40” weaving width and is a standard 10 harness frame with 8 harnesses.I have 5 reeds (38.5” 15 dent, the next 4 are 40” an8 dent [currently on loom], 10 dent, 12 dent, 15 dent).My son added a heavy metal bar on the bottom of the beater, which really helps if you weave rugs. It is set up for shaftswitching but we can easily remove that. It only involves taking off numbered wooden slats that we grooved to set on top of two harnesses. The wooden slats are equipped with hooks across the top; they correspond to numbers used in shaftswitching blocks. We can easily remove the texsolv loops inspired by Peter Collingwood’s Rug Weaving Techniques which completes the shaftswitching setup. Quite a clever method.
If purchaser is interested, I can demonstrate the shaftswitching method.
I checked online and a new Macomber 40” 10 harness frame with 8 harnesses is $3322 with 1 reed. Reeds are $88 each for the 40” width. New heddles are $28/100. I have extra heddles and am reserving 200to go with the loom.
I would like $1600 for the loom with 1 reed, $100 for the other 4 reeds (if interested), and $150 for the shaftswitching setup, should purchaser be interested in that.
LOUET MAGIC DOBBY LOOM CONNECTS TO COMPUTER
The Louet Magic Dobby has 24 shafts, a weaving width of 27.5”, and the electronic dobby “The Magic Box”which connects to a computer. I’ve used a PC, but Mac software is available. The computer software is what raises the harnesses row by row. Go to this link for information:
This is in Kentucky. There are other links but this one seems very complete. Prices new range from $4,050 to $4,500 without the mechanical dobby plus $3,400 for the electronic dobby. I checked three locations and $7,450 was the best price for new.
I’ve updated the number of heddles that came with it, more than doubling them. According to my notes, 1-4 have 125 heddles, 5-21 have 80, 22 has 68, and 23-24 have 64. The reed is 8 ends per inch and it currently has a 5 inch pearl cotton black/white warp using 16 shafts. Early on I did a lot with Bonnie Inouye’s Exploring Multishaft Design.
I bought a very old Dell laptop to use with the loom. It has system XP, as well as 2000, on it but I have used XP for the weaving. When I bought the laptop the battery was not working. I never replaced it because it was dedicated to the loom and always plugged in for weaving.If desired, the Dell laptop can go with the loom. My husband attached a folding shelf on one side for the computer.
There are several software programs that work with the Louet Magic Dobby. I use Fiberworks PCW. Fiberworks owners have been helpful any time I have called whether it was working with software design, or questions on other weaving information. They have versions for both Mac and PCs. Other software that is available is Patternland, PixieLoom, Weavemaker, Weave It, and ProWeave. Early on, I tried other software but have not kept up with the latest, some of which has developed since I purchased my Louet.
I just recently installed Fiberworks PCW Silver Plus 4.1.2.4 (which is a newer version than on the older computer) on my HP running Windows 7 Professional. The dobby is working with a USB adapter and my HP.
Selling price $3000.