Raddles come in many shapes and sizes. My Louet looms have a built in raddle – I rarely use it as the divisions are too small for me. Raddles are made with wood and nails, 3D printed parts and wood. The raddle recommended by Cathryn Amidei is made with eye screws set 1cm apart with a metal rod inserted to hold the threads in place under high tension.
Parts List:
- 120 eye screws – I used 304 Stainless Steel, 1in
- 3/16″ D x 48″ steel rod
- 1″ x 1 1/2″ x 54″ mahogany (repurposed from our renovation)
- Placement template
- Drill and bit – check to make sure the size is right before you drill 120 holes
I laser cut an acrylic template to make the drilling easier and more accurate. Drill a few holes through the template holes. Reposition the template placing a nail in the first hole and another nail a few holes to the right to align and place the template for new pilot holes. Continue drilling pilot holes until all of the necessary holes are created.
IMPORTANT: If you make a template, make sure that the drill goes through the holes AND that the pilot hole is the right size for the eye screw you are using. Double check that the spacing is correct before you get started. I make my laser cut pieces in Illustrator and the Repeat function did not space things exactly – no idea why. But I made a template with the wrong size. Oops. Good to measure twice and cut once as they say.
Screw the eyes into the pilot holes making sure they are straight up and down, perpendicular to the length of the wood and with the eye about 1/16″ – 3/32″ above the surface of the wood. The metal rod, when inserted, should float above the threads.
The tool set that comes with the TC2 is great. I used the ratchet and a socket to turn the eye screws into position after starting them by hand.