To augment my new loom, I decided to build a warping board that would fit a) my budget, and b) my apartment. After a bit of ruminating, I decided to build my board out of PVC, a material both cheap and easy to work with.
Supplies:
3 PVC pipes, 1″ in diameter and 5′ long – $11.25
12 T connectors with an interior diameter of 1″ – $10.23
2 right angle connectors with an interior diameter of 1″ – $3.96
Total – $25.44
Tools:
A hand saw
A rubber-headed mallet
Step 1: Measuring
I measured out three 30″ lengths for cross-bars and 22 4″ lengths for the pegs and uprights.
Step 2: Cutting
I cut each pipe to the marked length using a simple handsaw. The plastic tub you see me working over is my way of avoiding getting plastic shavings all over the place. It mostly worked. I found that if I rotated the pipe a bit as I cut, the process went a bit quicker.
After cutting, I rinsed the finished pieces off in the sink to remove the detritus that had attached itself via the magnificent power of static electricity.
Step 3: Hitting Things with Hammers
The last step was to put everything together. I used a rubber-headed mallet to knock everything into place. I did not use PVC glue as I wanted to be able to break the board down for long-term storage.
The finished warping board takes about 8′ as it is currently set up. In the future, I may make it larger (or at least, longer) in order to warp up longer lengths. Those two pegs sticking up from the top of the board in the picture above were initially intended to hold the cone of thread, unfortunately they were too big for my cones. As it turns out though, they make nice “feet” for the board so that it’s raised up to a good height.
The board works well, but I have to be careful not to dump the thread off the board during the warping process. I will be adding caps to the pegs, which may help avoid the “dump” issues.
Medieval Home Companion 