Revisions and Decisions

At this stage, i am still thinking through and looking for materials to carve out the final prototype of the adjustable loom. The two main materials that i am debating through are acrylic or wood. I am probably going to settle on wood which is what i have been using throughout the iteration process. I have handled and looked up the characteristics of acrylic and i am realizing that the feel of it is too smooth and too fine. The problem with this is that the yarn will slide off when the process is initiated and when the patterns are being made with the yarn.

Wood on the other hand provides a formidable alternative because of its texture. So far, i have experimented with baltic wood in different sizes and thickness. I find that the thinner wood bends easily when the knitting is initiated and cannot withstand tension. Also the dowels in thinner wood starts to bend when knitting is being done on this type of material. The thinner wood i used was about 1/4inches thick. When i used thicker wood, which was about 3/8inches thick, the loom was much stable and the dowels stayed in place. It would be great if i could even use the laser cutter to cut even thicker wood, but unfortunately, the laser cutter is not able to cut much thicker wood. Since i am using the laser cutter in this process, i have decided to settle on this thickness.

Another alteration i have to make is to decrease the width of the placers that are secured on the top and bottom end of the main loom. I will need to decrease the size so that they fit securely within the space afforded by the dowel placements.

Additionally, i have settled on color coding the placers and the main loom to make it visually obvious where they are placed and which ones are placed together. The idea is that anyone who picks up the pieces will know how to place them and how it works. I will be testing different types of paint in the lab on wood to identify which type of paint will be suitable. ie. not rub off when the knitting is initiated. Lastly, i am working on a manual that will accompany the loom. The manual will take a hands on approach and introduce a novice to the loom and its usability within a number of minutes.

Moving Towards Adjustability

The move towards making the loom adjustable has undergone many alterations. The first sketches i came up with were quiet complicated and required several parts to be moved back and forth which was not really ideal. In thinking about more creative and alternate ways to not only make the loom adjustable but also efficient and easy to use, the idea about adjustability moved from attaching an extra loom to adding placers instead. The sketch can be found in the previous post.

During last week and this week, i focused on working out the hacks of the adjustable loom prototype by using Corel Draw and the laser cutter. The first cut was done on cardboard paper. The image above is a visual of what it looked like after it was cut. After seeing the physical representation of the adjustable loom idea, i realized that in order for the placers to work on this loom, a hole for a dowel should be placed on both ends of the prototype (initially, and as can be seen from this image, there was only one hole on one end). I preceded to add another hole for an extra dowel on the other end just as it was on the original prototype. In this way, 2 spacers would have to be constructed specifically for the ends of the loom to adjust for length and width and different sized spacers would be placed in the middle to adjust for level. The image to the left displays the adjustable loom pieces cut from the laser cutter in the lab.


In putting the pieces together, another opportunity for redesign became eminent. The dowel holes on the original loom are too far away from the edge of the loom. This will produce or create wide spaces in the knitted fabric. I will adjust the proximity closer to the opening side of the loom. The holes in the spacer were cut slightly larger than the holes in the original loom to allow them to be easily slipped over the original loom. The last figure displays the loom put together.

Whats Next? Cut the loom on acrylic perhaps and decide on how to design the dowels themselves so that the yarn does not easily slip off. Stay tuned...