How do I remove, move, or add heddles on a Schacht shaft loom?

Weavers often need to move heddles from one shaft to another, or add new heddles for a pattern, or remove heddles to make more space. After you add or remove heddles, evenly distribute the heddles across the shaft.

• It's important to have enough heddles for your weaving pattern before you start warping the loom—it's much easier to add heddles after you've removed the shaft from the loom, and once you start warping, you can't remove the shaft. If your pattern doesn't list the number of heddles needed per shaft, you can calculate from the weaving draft.

• It's also important not to have too many heddles on a shaft, because they take up space on the heddle bars. If you want to use the full weaving width of your loom, and there are more than 50 extra heddles on a shaft, you might want to remove heddles that you don't need for your pattern.

What you'll need:

• heddles*

• strong cord or twine and a tapestry needle to secure heddle bundles

• the assembly manual for your loom—view or download from its page on this website

*We sell two kinds of heddles for our shaft looms: Texsolv heddles (in different sizes) made of braided cord and inserted eye heddles made of metal. Both kinds are sold in packs of 100. We recommend different heddles for different looms—see the description on the heddles page so you buy the correct size or type for your loom.

Simple Steps

(For more information, see the detailed steps below.)

1. Work with one shaft at a time: remove it from the loom and lay it flat.

2. Make a bundle of the heddles you want to move OR divide a new pack of heddles into smaller bundles.

3. Secure the heddle bundle with cords. Make sure the bundle is secure—moving heddles one at a time is not fun (to put it mildly).

4. Release the heddle bars from the shaft (or access the heddle rods on the Cricket Quartet).

5. Slide the old heddle bundle off the heddle bars OR slide a new bundle onto the heddle bars. Check carefully to make sure the bars go through all heddles in the bundle!

6. Reinstall the heddle bars in the shaft—making sure they're secure—then cut cords around the heddle bundle.

7. Put the shaft back in the loom.

Repeat these steps for each shaft.