Textile & Loom Parts
This corner of Yorkshire ran on looms, and a lot of that machinery is still working — in the surviving mills, in weaving studios, and on kitchen tables between Penistone and Huddersfield. The makers are mostly gone and the spares went with them. Recreating a bobbin or a carriage part from the broken original is exactly the job this process was made for.
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Get a textile & loom parts estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.
Common uses
- Bobbins, pirns, spool ends and quills
- Shuttle tips, fittings and boat shuttle parts
- Heddles, reed fittings, temple parts and shaft clips
- Knitting machine spares: carriage parts, sinker plate clips, needle retainer clips, weights
- Spinning wheel parts: flyer hooks, whorls and tension fittings
- Warping mill, swift and bobbin winder fittings
Wear parts will not last like the originals
Textile machinery is a high-cycle environment. A carriage crosses a bed hundreds of times in an afternoon, a shuttle gets thrown, a bobbin spins with yarn dragging over it, and every one of those passes is abrasion. A printed part is layered, and the layer boundaries are precisely where abrasion and thread friction attack it — so a printed nylon carriage part will wear faster than the moulded original, and a printed bobbin surface will never be as slick as a polished one straight off the printer. We are not going to dress that up. Where nothing else exists, it is a trade worth making: a spare that wears out in a year beats a machine that does not run at all, and you own the file, so the next one costs materials and printer time rather than another search through eBay. Where the original part is still on sale, buy the original — it will be better and probably cheaper, and we will tell you so.
Copying a part from a machine that predates CAD
There is no drawing for any of this. There never was one you could get hold of. So send the original — in pieces if that is what survived — or measurements and photos with a rule in shot, plus the make and model if there is a badge left on it. The dimensions that decide whether a copy works are bore diameters, shaft fits, the pitch of anything that indexes into a comb or a bed, and the thickness of anything that slides in a slot. Those we measure twice and check with you before printing. We model the part, share the file so you can compare it against the machine, and print once you are satisfied. The design work happens once, so a set of spares on the shelf is much cheaper than the first part — and with this kind of machinery, the same thing tends to break again.
Material, friction and what thread does to a surface
Nylon for wear surfaces and anything a thread runs over; PETG for general fittings and housings; ASA where a part sits in sun or near heat; TPU for bumpers, grips and buffers. Surface finish matters more here than in almost any other job we do, because thread is unforgiving: layer lines running across a thread path will snag and fray yarn, so we orient the print so the thread runs along the layers rather than over them, and for a part with a real thread path you should expect to polish or smooth it yourself — we will tell you where that is likely rather than let you find out with a ruined warp. Weight is the other thing people forget. A shuttle or a carriage part that is lighter than the original behaves differently, so if mass matters, say so: we can adjust the density and design in a pocket for a lead or steel weight to bring it back.
How it works
Send your file or describe the part
Upload an STL, OBJ, 3MF or STEP file, or tell us what you need with photos and a few measurements.
Get a guide price
When we can read the geometry we estimate from it straight away — material, print time, supports and quantity all priced openly.
We check printability, then confirm
A person reviews orientation, wall thickness and supports, flags anything that will not print well, and confirms your final quote before any work starts.
Textile & Loom Parts — example prices
Worked examples on real models from our print library, priced by the same calculator that estimates your own part. Sizes span small to large so you can see how cost moves with the part.
| Example part | Size | PLA | PETG | ABS / ASA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M4 Washer | 12 × 12 × 2 mm | £0.09 – £0.12 | £0.10 – £0.13 | £0.11 – £0.14 |
| Standoff M4x15 | 10 × 10 × 15 mm | £0.34 – £0.44 | £0.36 – £0.46 | £0.41 – £0.53 |
| Wing Nut M8 | 46 × 18 × 10 mm | £1.21 – £1.54 | £1.28 – £1.63 | £1.43 – £1.83 |
| Control Knob (large) | 45 × 45 × 20 mm | £7.89 – £10.08 | £8.25 – £10.55 | £9.02 – £11.52 |
Guide prices for a single unit, calculated from the measured geometry of each example model — not fixed quotes. Small parts land at or near the £0 minimum order, and per-unit prices fall with quantity. Your price depends on your own part, its material and its printability. How pricing works.
Example models for textile & loom parts
Open-source designs from our print library that show the kind of part this service suits. View any of them for a full material and quantity price breakdown.
Wall Hook (small)
Drawer Organiser Tray
Control Knob (large)
Wall Hook (utility)
These are open-source example designs (CC0) we publish to show what the process suits and what it costs — not a record of past jobs. Prices shown are examples in PLA.
Textile & Loom Parts — FAQ
My knitting machine is from the 1970s and the maker is long gone. Can you help?+
That is the whole reason this page exists. Domestic knitting machines and studio looms of that era are mechanically sound and completely unsupported. Send the broken part, or the surviving one from the other side, and we will recreate it.
Will yarn snag on a printed bobbin or shuttle?+
It can, and that is the honest answer. Layer lines across a thread path catch fibre. We orient prints so the thread runs along the layers rather than over them, which helps a lot, but a part with a working thread path usually wants a polish. We will say up front where we think that will be needed.
How long will a printed carriage part last?+
Less than the moulded original — how much less depends on how hard the machine works. Treat it as a wear part rather than a permanent fix. The upside is that the file exists now, so the second, third and fourth ones are cheap, and printing a few spares at once is usually the sensible move.
Can you change the part while you are at it?+
Often, yes, and sometimes you should. If the original always broke in the same place, that is a design weakness we can thicken up. If a bobbin needs a different bore for your winder, that is a number in the file. Tell us what annoyed you about the original.
How much does textile & loom parts cost?+
There is no fixed per-item rate — price comes from how much plastic the part uses, how long it takes to print, how much support and finishing it needs, and how many you want. The example table above shows what real parts of this kind work out at. Upload your file for a guide price on your own part.
How long does it take?+
It depends on the size of the part, the queue and the material. Tell us your deadline when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable before you commit.
Can I order one of the models from your library?+
Yes. Every model in our print library is a design you can have printed — pick one, choose a material and quantity, and the example price on its page is your starting point. You can also download the file and take it elsewhere; they are all CC0.
Are my files kept private?+
Yes. Uploaded files go to private storage, are never made public, and are only used to quote and produce your job.
Worth reading first
Practical guides that help you get a better part and a more accurate quote.
How to Copy a Part Without CAD
No file, no drawing, just a broken part and a pair of calipers. That is a perfectly normal starting point — here is how the process actually works.
Do 3D Printed Parts Shrink?
Yes — every material, every time. The question is how much, in which direction, and what to do about it before you pay for a part that does not fit.
Can You 3D Print Threads?
You can, and often you should not. Printed, tapped and heat-set threads each have a place — here is which one your part actually wants.
Other services
Get a 3D print estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.