Mechanics

The Louët Megado is engineered to deliver advanced dobby functionality with remarkable mechanical elegance—and it does so using a single treadle.

Unlike many dobby looms that require a second treadle (such as those found on AVL looms), Louët employs a dual-sensor system on the Megado dobby. A metal post mounted on the knife bar is mechanically linked to the treadle. As the treadle is pressed, the knife bar moves the post downward and then back upward. During this motion, the post passes two sensors on the dobby unit—one ending the current pick and the other activating the next. The result is smooth, reliable, and perfectly timed pattern changes with every treadle stroke.

Where the Megado truly distinguishes itself, however, is in how it forms the shed.

Technically speaking, the Megado is a jack loom: pressing the treadle raises only the selected shafts. In a conventional jack loom, this typically leads to uneven warp tension—tight upper threads and slack lower threads. Louët’s engineering solution is both clever and highly effective.

As shown in the loom’s design, the treadle is directly connected to the warp beam and back beam assembly. At rest, the back beam sits lower than the breast beam, creating a gentle downward slope in the warp from front to back. When the treadle is depressed, the entire warp beam section is lifted upward and drawn forward. At full depression, the back beam rises above the breast beam, equalizing tension across both the upper and lower warp threads.

The result is a large, clean, evenly tensioned shed—a defining characteristic normally associated with countermarch looms.

This combination of dobby precision, mechanical simplicity, and countermarch-like shed quality is what makes the Megado such a pleasure to weave on. The even tension allows the weaver to focus entirely on structure, rhythm, and cloth quality, rather than compensating for loom behavior.

In short, the Louët Megado brings together the best of multiple loom systems in one thoughtfully engineered machine. It is a loom designed not just to meet expectations, but to elevate them—and for many weavers, it represents the loom to aspire to.