David 3 - Adjusting shaft heights

For the David to function properly, it is important that the shafts and the beater are properly adjusted to an optimal height. These instruction are not clear in the first version of the manual, hence this additional description. During initial assembly, you have installed the shafts and beater. You can fine-tune the shaft heights after warping your David 3 and after you have woven a piece on it. A higher warp tension will reduce your shed by 0.5 - 1 cm. We will discuss this further below.  For optimal weaving, the beater must also be set to the right height - see helpdesk article - David 3 - adjusting reed height For an explanation and description of the various components, see helpdesk article - David 3 - description shaft system You can download the detailed description via the link at the bottom of this page.   Note there are 2 versions -Dutch and English
Preparation Tie-up the middle two treadles with a plain weave tie-up.  One treadle connected to shafts 1, 3, 5 and 7 and the other treadle to shafts 2, 4, 6 and 8. Check that the shafts are level - left to right. Check whether the eyebolts on the lams are positioned exactly in the middle. Check that all shafts have a few heddles on both the left and right sides to remain balanced. The lease sticks should no longer be in place or are positioned behind the back beam.
First adjust the height of the front shaft (Shaft 1) by turning the nut on the lam eyebolt as far down as possible. Check that the distance between the top of the castle and the top of the shaft bar is 8 cm. Use the block supplied with your loom or a tape measure. Adjust the shaft height as necessary by tightining or loosening the nut on the eyebolt of the lam.
Next adjust the height of the rear shaft. The distance between the top of the castle and the top of the rear shaft bar should be 6 cm Next adjust the other shafts so that they gradually increase in height from front to rear.
Check that when either treadle is fully depressed, all shafts descend to the same height The distance to the top of the shaft bars, measured from the bottom of the castle is 16 cm, when fully depressed.
The cam discs at the top of the loom will no longer be aligned with each other (with the blocking pin removed), the rear one is more to the left and they gradually sit more to the right. see article - David 3 - insert and remove shaft blocking pin
Checklist for fine tuning shaft height: Check whether the beater is adjusted to the right height - see article David 3 - adjusting the reed height Check that the warp is threaded on 8 shafts. Check that the blocking pin is removed during weaving and when adjusting the shaft and beater heights. In the first series David-III (2021) you could still depress a treadle while the blocking pin was inserted. This is no longer possible with the later series. That the warp is advanced sufficiently so that the tie-on bar is past the breast beam. The distance from the reed to the fell line is at least 18 cm. If you continue weaving further, the shed becomes smaller and the lower half of the shed will no longer touch the shuttle race. There are two treadles tied-up with a plain weave tie-up. Check that all treadle tie-up cords are connected with the correct hole in the texsolv cord and are connected to the correct and corresponding lam.   There should be 10 empty holes between the connection to the lam and the connection to the screw on the treadle. see article : David 3 - Treadle tie-up	In the rest position without blocking pin, the warp rests high in the reed  When you depress a treadle, the shed opens and the bottom half of the warp threads Rost on the shuttle race.
Checklist : If you do not have a good shed. If everything has been adjusted and you still do not get a good shed, check the following: Have the lease sticks been removed (or placed behind the back beam)? Has the shaft blocking pin been removed? Are the treadle cords connected correctly (last hole) Have threading errors been made (e.g. threads twisted around each other, between heddles, reed openings? Did you move heddles and did something go wrong? see article David 3 - Moving or adding Heddles