I recently got a David III (70) and its all set up. Followed the video instructions and had the shafts aligned and balanced and even put a 4 shaft 12” wide test/get acquainted warp on it. Did a few minor adjustments after the warp was on as noted in videos.

It wove beautifully -nice even selvedges, etc. BUT, after removing the test warp, all the shafts are uneven and have lowered quite a bit. It was threaded 1-4 straight draw. All 8 shafts have lowered a bit, even 5-8 even though they weren't used, and shaft 3 especially took a dip. .

Do you have to go through the recalibration/“balancing act” every time you want to weave on this thing or am I doing something wrong?

Also, the blocking pin is very hard to remove and insert. Do you guys generally bother with it or just leave it out? When just using the first 4 shafts can you leave the pin inserted thru the back 4 cams?

Did you have the blocking pin in when you aligned your shafts?

Also, it's not hard to insert the blocking pin or take it out...you just need to take the pressure off of the cams when you're inserting or removing it. Take it out when weaving.

Hi Cheryl - yes I did remove the blocking pin as per the instructions. I then tied up 2,4,6,8 and 1,3,5,7 in tabby. Everything went fairly well and as I said my first little project went great! I was just concerned because things didn't stay the same after the warp was removed. I've gone through the process again so hopefully it was just stretching of the texsolv or something.
Re blocking pin - I guess I don't have a lot of hand strength. It looks easy when Dave and Jane show it in their videos but mine is very stubborn. Anyway, thanks for answering!

I’m going through a similar issue when I try tied up a skeleton key and the shafts weren’t sinking at the same heights.

I found the instructions confusing as well- video, written, and you tube.

It’s weaveable at the moment but we shall see post project. I think I did every adjustment that I read and watched from adjusting the heights, the lams, and then the springs at the top.

I’m a wee scared to see what happens with the next project.

The pin can be hard. You could slowly insert the pin with the lowering of one shaft after the other if it’s too hard to press down on all of them at once. I think the hardest part for me was getting the pin in the hole on the other side.

I have a feeling it's going to be an ongoing learning curve for awhile!