Just Getting Started...

As a part of the new mission team at Montrose Zion UMC, one of the popular outreach programs is crocheting sleeping mats for the homeless out of plastic bags from a grocery store. It's thick and soft enough to be comfortable while also being waterproof, however, over thirty hours of work goes into just one mat, and 100s bags are used per mat.

Ian Kauffman and myself (Kyle Fertig) has decided to create a loom in order speed up the process of creating these mats. The video above shows the general concept we're basing our design on. Two sections will slide up and down, creating a sideways "V" where a spool of bags can pass through the side. The two sections will then switch places vertically and the spool can come back through the other side, back to its original position.

It's obvious below that we have yet to come up with a detailed concept, but the first build should be easy and cheap to create. Hopefully, the first build will occur around December. We plan to create 3D CAD models before that occurs.