Visualization: Sometimes Diagrams Help

In a comment on the recent post about how to use a mailing tube as an auxiliary warp beam, Jolanda asked "How do you make the angle and do you turn the tube?"

It is difficult to describe in words, but perhaps a diagram will help:



The warping wheel holds the measured bout of yarn. The bout exits the warping wheel through a comb, which is a small loom reed with a removable cap. The comb is a fixed position.

Now imagine that I have attached the end of the bout to the mailing tube, as described in that earlier post. I rotate the tube toward me, keeping it always parallel to the axis of the warping wheel. This causes the bout to begin winding onto the tube, just as if I were beaming a warp on a loom.

If I step gradually to my left while rotating the tube, the bout of yarn will wind in a spiral toward the right end of the tube. Then if I step gradually to my right, the bout of yarn will wind in a spiral back toward the left end of the tube. I keep moving to left and right, but the tube is always parallel to the axis of the warping wheel. It stays on that imaginary line. This is what keeps the tension equal.

I hope this helps you to visualize the process.