Two things to share today. One, a bit of a shocking revelation. And two, some thoughts.
First the revelation. This thread is about Jigs.
Second, for those who don’t know a jig is a device that’s used to make a specific project easier and more efficient. They can make a huge difference in time spent and frustration. One 64 strand braid using cordage that is basically thread makes me want to hurt myself.
So I love making slings but I despise doing the set up. My current set up involves drawing out the correct amount of cordage and wrapping it around my fingers until I have the correct amount of length, finding the center point and then wrapping the other side of the cordage until I have both in manageable “butterflies” ready for braiding. Needless to say this is a major pain in the butt and it makes me put off what otherwise would be an awesome and enjoyable process.
So enter the jig.
Originally my good man NOOC suggested something like this for my project:
The magnet goes on the bobbin and the counter counts the revolutions as the magnet passes the sensor. Once you know the amount of cord for one revolution you can easily turn that into a number of revolutions for the amount of cordage you need.
This is exactly what I was looking for but hold on...what about different cord diameters? Thicker cords will bulk up on the bobbin more and increase the circumference which would increase or decrease the amount of cordage spooled out for a given number. Now you can easily work around it but why bother.
Enter my new toy, the line counter:
The cordage goes into the slot and it automatically counts the amount of feet going through. Cord diameter is irrelevant since it’s counting the actual amount of cord instead of the amount of revolutions on the bobbin.
Anyways, I am very excited about this as it will help me make slings much faster. I’m sure there’s better ways to do this but my tama are home made and I figure it might be better to simply design this machine to them instead of using a more traditional design. Anyways thats my story, thanks for reading.