Hello!
I am weaving a new project on my 4 shaft floor loom, and I am experiencing an issue I’ve never encountered before.
Every inch or so, when I beat my weft, the fabric seems to slip back and the tension on the warp threads relaxes. I have learned so much searching and browsing these threads, but I couldn’t find anything about this specific issue. I would love any advice or recommendations this amazing group might have! :)

Details about my project (not sure what might be helpful to know)
-Harrisville 4 Shaft loom
-20epi/ppi
-8/2 cotton
-twill threading w/ floating selvedge on each side

I had a tension problem on my Harrisville. After emailing them, they suggested roughing up the brake wheel with sand paper or file. It seems to have worked. They were very responsive. Good luck.

Is your toggle holding and preventing your warp from shifting?

The brake toggle/mechanisms on both the front and back beams are definitely holding. It seems like just the warp threads themselves are slipping forward somehow.

Stupid question alert …….. your warp is evenly and tightly wound onto your warp beam? If the answer is yes, then contacting Harrisville or your supplier to get help with your issue, as Michell suggested, might be your next step.

Not a stupid question! I’m still relatively new to multi-shaft weaving, but I actually feel very confident that my warp tension is even and beam is properly packed.

Thanks all for your advice and review! I’ll reach out to Harrisville for advice.

(Love this community! 🤗)

Stephen, What kind of warp packing did you use?

I use a roll of brown kraft paper. I’ve used the same paper for all of my projects so far, including several with this same cotton.
Definitely open to suggestions for other warp packing materials :)

It sure sounds as if the brake is slipping to me... I'm not familiar with this loom. Is the braking system the tension type or the ratchet wheel type? I would guess tension, and it's slipping. Tighten the spring system if so.

Stephen, The reason I asked about packing is because I recently used vinyl shade slats with my 8/4 cotton warp on a small table loom. I was accidentally deforming the slat ends as I was winding on, and winding a smaller circumference at each end of the beam, where the slats were squeezed together by my hands as I was winding on. This created a wonky warp. I ended up having my husband help me unwind and rewind with attention to the slats and the stacking of the warp as it made its way onto the beam.

I was also wondering if the corrugated type packing could cause some distortion of the warp, as it was being tightened and crushing the paper structure.

Thank you all for your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations! I think it’s been solved…I tightened the ‘Spring Anchor Bracket” that connects the foot brake the to back beam and the tension has so far held (about 30” or so of weaving). I feel silly that it was such a simple fix, so truly, thank you everyone for your ideas and suggestions. I appreciate this wonderful community! :)

So glad I found this because I've been struggling for about 20 inches noth realizing that spring anchor screw was so loose and I thought it was the coil slipping so every time I tried to adjust that I was making the hold worse!