3D-printed Power Loom

By Ben Everard. Posted

This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.

3D-printed Power Loom

In issue #57 of HackSpace magazine, we’ve gone into the coding behind knitting and crochet, and raised a hat to the Jacquard loom, which took instructions that could’ve been programmed anywhere, by anyone. It wasn’t Turing-complete, but it was, almost, a computer.

This 3D-printed model pays tribute to the power looms that laid the way for the Industrial Revolution and, indirectly, computer science.

Screenshot 2022-07-22 at 13.09.58

Fraens has made the STL files available on Printables and Thingiverse, and there’s a full list of materials used on his YouTube page, including screws, ball bearings, and a 12 V motor. Apparently, one of the hardest things to get right was the weight of the shuttle: too heavy and it won’t move; too light and it gets snagged easily.


Ben Everard

Ben is the Editor of HackSpace magazine. When not wrangling words, he enjoys cycling, gardening, and attempting to identify wild mushrooms.

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