AVL Compu-Dobby® III System

The AVL Compu-Dobby® III System is a compact, custom-designed electronic interface between a personal computer and most AVL dobby looms. Re-designed in 2002 from the bottom-up, Compu-Dobby III is a fast, reliable means to accomplish complex and sophisticated weaves with ease.

The Compu-Dobby does far more than merely free you from the tedium of inserting pegs into dobby bars. It allows your imagination to soar. You input and edit a design at your screen and immediately execute it on your loom. It’s still handweaving, but with greater efficiency and infinitely more creative control.

Compu-Dobby III is the latest evolution in AVL electronics – an unbroken string of innovation that began with introduction of the first Compu-Dobby in 1982.

In 2003, AVL took the development a step further by connecting the Compu-Dobby to the PDA. PocketWeave® software makes this interface possible and creates our most powerful electronic controller ever. PocketWeave® uses a PocketPC® PDA to store your pegplans, which will allow you to disconnect the Compu-Dobby from the computer. The average PocketPC® can hold approximately 3000 designs.

Comparison -- Why Compu-Dobby III

• Easy Lifting. Compu-Dobby III makes it 30-60% easier to raise harnesses than prior AVL dobbies or Compu-Dobbies. An added benefit is that it evens out the weight distribution on each dobby treadle.
  
• Bigger Shed. Compu-Dobby III creates a shed that is almost twice as large as our previous models.
  
• Instant Adjustment. No more fiddling with adjust. Compu-Dobby III is virtually adjustment-free.
  
• Economical. At a price that is clearly the lowest on the market and fully 40% less expensive than its predecessor, who can resist Compu-Dobby III?

Benefits -- The AVL Compu-Dobby System

• Is compatible with Apple Macintosh and Windows/Intel computers.
• Works with a wide variety of software, including AVL’s own: WeaveMaker Mi, WeavePoint, and SwiftWeave (obsolete) plus a growing number of third party packages.
• Optimizes efficiency by automatically controlling the lifting of any combination of harnesses.
• Enables you to weave the most complex patterns with hundreds, even thousands, of picks per repeat.
• Increases your productivity by allowing you to change designs at the touch of the keyboard or mouse.
• Is easily mounted on any AVL dobby loom in less than a half-hour.
• Works with all current AVL 8-, 16-, 24-, and 40-harness dobby systems.
  

The AVL Compu-Dobby System -- A Scientific Explanation

Any dobby, in fact, any loom needs to deal with Newton’s first law of motion which states that “An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” Objects “tend to keep on doing what they’re doing.” In fact, it is the natural tendency of objects to resist changes in their state of motion. This tendency to resist changes in their state of motion is described as inertia.

In other words, the hardest moment of lifting is the very first instant when the harnesses that have been at rest start to go in motion. On the classic AVL dobby, the dobby arm sweeps down and lifts all the selected harnesses. Compu-Dobby III has a slide plate that goes vertically. In order to create the shed, we have arranged the lifting spheres on an angle. So when the dobby plate starts to go down, it picks up the balls sequentially. Hence, when one starts to treadle (back to Newton), one only has to overcome the weight of ONE HARNESS.

Next, Compu-Dobby III provides extra leverage. Jim Ahrens (the “A” in AVL) introduced the idea of cams to the handweaving world to help overcome the inertia. It worked “real well” as Jim always said, but we have gone one better with Compu-Dobby III — by changing the dimension of the cam. It is now a longer and more eccentrically shaped unit; it provides more leverage and that makes it easier to treadle.

Finally, Compu-Dobby III uses the absolute latest in consumer electronics. Ever notice that while the price of computers keeps going down, the prices of computerized looms keep going up? Not Compu-Dobby III. It uses a remarkably simple set of electronics. They’re easy to install; easy to replace; and, best of all, quite inexpensive.

Compu-Dobby III with PDA -- Power in Your Pocket

Compu-Dobby III has taken computer weaving to the next level. In addition to the Compu-Dobby itself, you can purchase a PocketPC™ PDA and PocketWeave. Once the patterns are in the PocketPC, the Compu-Dobby no longer requires a computer connection, but can, in fact, control the loom directly, allowing the user to disconnect the computer.

PocketWeave will allow you to have a color image of the weave at your fingertips (displayed on the PDA) and shows you exactly which pick you’re on and what comes next. PocketWeave can store approximately 3,000 weaves at any one time. PocketWeave reads all WIF files, so Compu-Dobby III can be used by any weaving software package that creates WIF files. At last count, eight programs utilize WIF files.

Here's How it Works : PocketWeave is Remarkably Easy to Use.

• Save your weave as a WIF file
• Send the WIF from the computer to PocketPC
  
• Connect your PocketPC to the Compu-Dobby
  
• Open PocketWeave and load your desired WIF file
  
• Tap on the Loom Control Menu in PocketWeave
  
• Start weaving
• That's it

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