J-MADE DIGEST #26

Please note that these instructions differ somewhat from previously published instructions.  They have been edited by Dale who will soon make a short video of the adjustment process that we will put up on our website when it becomes available.

There are two principles that underlie the adjustment process that is done with the tie-up box (and the right treadle) in the up position.:

1. There are two separate cables, each one controlling the tension on one or the other ends of both the horizontal aluminum channels, one cable for the ends at the South end and one at the North end of the tie up unit.  (Note in passing that the West side of the tie-up unit controls the even numbered shafts and the East side the odd numbered shaft.  Shafts 1 and 2 are at the South end of the tie-up unit and 15 and 16 at the North end.)

2. Consequently, although there are four adjustment screws on the unit, toward the front and the rear of the channel on each side, in principle only one front and one rear screw needs to be adjusted.

The adjustment procedure when the tie-up unit is first assembled begins by having both the cables so slack that there is horizontal play (in the East-West direction)  at both the front and the rear of each channel. (That is, play in the direction the solenoids travel.)  The adjustment screws are then advanced (bringing the arms with the idler wheels away from the channel) just enough so that the horizontal play at each end is barely eliminated.

Note that while this can be done, in principle, by adjusting only the two screws on one side, it is advisable to end up with the two idler brackets in the front (and the ones in the back independently) extended roughly the same distance from the channels.

Some diagnostic hints:
Test the loom in Manual mode with six settings of the switches: all up, all down, all odd up, all even up, 1-8 up, 9-16 up.

If there is a problem with shafts 1-8 it is the tension on the South end of the tie-up box that needs adjustment; if it is 9-16, the North (rear) end. If the problem shafts are raising when they should not, the tension is too tight; if they are not coming up when they should, the tension is too loose.

If there are only one or two shafts that are not behaving, the solenoids for those shafts probably need lubrication or cleaning and it is not a tension problem.

If the tension is way too tight, it will restrict the motion of the short bar with the pulley wheel in its middle that one can see when sitting at the loom looking down on the right treadle.  The short cable that runs from the back of the right treadle around that pulley and to the East front of the tie-up unit will be very slack when the right treadle is forward.

A far less likely problem may be that the microswitch activated by the wooden block attached on the right side of the right treadle is not activating the relay that removes voltage from the solenoids. This is the click one hears when the right treadle is pushed forward.  In the extreme case of this failure, rapid treadling will eventually cause all shafts to rise all the time.

It may happen that the slots in the channel get hung up on the heads of one of the screws that are on one of the two threadall studs that runs through the tie-up unit from east to West.  (They have a copper tube sleeve over the central portion of them). If that happens the shafts on that side of the tie-up unit will suddenly start to misbehave and can be fixed by jiggling the channel about its axis. If this problem arises, the nuts can be run in our out on the threaded shaft as needed to keep them out of trouble.