In March 2023 I bought a used 8 shaft CM Loom with over head beater, a second warp beam, reed and two raddles, on TradeMe, for $400 dollars. It was in Nelson and had been listed three times with no sale. Shipping from Nelson to Dunedin cost more than the loom - but the seller arranged to disassemble and package it up into 14 parcels at no additional cost. She had bought it wanting to learn to weave but didnt have time.

Info on loom below - including details of the manufacturer,

The loom arrived 3 weeks later in Dunedin but I had to pause for 2 weeks while DD was living with us and work events got in the way. Easter/April 5th I was able to start assembly, we began by shifting DD’s stuff into the smaller room so we could fit this and the exisiting floor loom into the larger bedroom. We set out grey gym mats to protect the floor.
Over the next week,
Assembling this pile of sticks into a loom provided the opportunity to check all the joints, clean it, and make minor repairs. We sent the capstans off to a local wood turner to have the handles repaired/replaced and some new ones made. We also replaced a few broken bolts,
loom came with 1023 string heddles - which i distributed over the 8 shafts, 150 on shafts 1-4, 100 on shafts 5-8. Levelled shafts,
Bought steel knitting needles to use as locking pins - these work but the jacks are tight on the pivot - so will work at freeing these up.
Loom rubbed over with a worn nylon scrubby (like fine steel wool) - to remove grime build up,
Some confusion over the rachet/pawl/brake systems - in part as the capstans are with the wood turner so cant be added, we thought one pawl was missing (hole numbered #37 but no matching insert for hole numbered #37), but lower warp beam brake/pawl is a J-hook of steel that loops over the rachet wheel, opperated by foot lever at front of loom, upper beam pawl released by pull cord from from of loom. Double pawls on front cloth beam allow for finer adjustment.
Lamms - all pivot on the same pin, so separated out the lower lams, clamped these into a block, masked off the sides and painted the tops a vintage yellow (test pot).
Loom came with three raddles, each had a raddle cap, one didn’t seat down onto the pins, Bear wood worked it into behaving - now have three raddles
Loom came with two stainless reeds, a 10 and a 16, the 16 was too long for the beater and had a damaged section near one end, so we shortened it following instructions on the Eugine Textile Centres YouTube video.

Treadles were dusty, took treadle unit apart, lightly scrubbed these down, drilled out the spacer blocks with slightly larger holes, applied wax/linseed/lavender polish, and reassembled.

Removed all the lower texsol, soaked in hot water with oxyclean and clothes wash overnight, to get nice white texsolv.

Vintage texsolv is larger than current texsolv, and arrow pegs are also vintage.

16th April, connected up lamms, and prepared treadle cords, have pony beads to put under treadles, so can use a Top of the Lamm tie up, tilted upper lamms to within 1.5” of the shafts, tilted lower lamms up a little, drawing on reading in the Toika Eeva thread (they look a lot like my Freds Shed), and what works on my Loman which has upper and lower lamms of equal length.
Every thing on hold until more 8/2 arrives for the first project.

22nd April - set up resumes, removed the cords that tie on the apron bars, these are a bit brown stained, probably age, so will soak overnight and dry tomorrow and replace them. Also wound half a warp for a pilot project - a test project. Just two towels, Capstans ready for collection from the wood turner, so picking them up tomorrow and installing - exciting!

April 23rd, Sunday, picked up the Capstans, Ian had glued in the ones on the lower roller, and left them for us stain and polish. We moved the lower warp roller to the outside, as we had realised from fade marks on the loom that was where it should be. We had assembled it from the photos the seller sent, but she never wove on the loom - she bought it to learn on and never had time. Once the capstans were on we realised the brake was missing, the mystery part #39, we had a hole identified with masking tape as matching part 39 but no part 39. The brake bar needed a brace to keep it a fixed distance from the rachet teeth, we cut one in card board to check the size needed then Bear wandered off to the garage and came back with a piece cut in aluminium, we fitted it an it worked. We added shims to the Raddle bracket - so the raddle fitted easily and wasn’t a tight fit. Two raddles are half inch spacing, and fit the holder, one is taller I think for when winding on to both warp rollers. A third raddle is narrower - maybe for a different loom?
Also had removed the steel cloth apron rods, and their tie on cord, washed the cord (more brown stains which came out), replace these - but with a herringbone twist rather than the original knot (its too hard to get all those knots even), used an awl and a hair pin to thread the nylon cord through the canvas apron.

Tuesday April 25th , 2003. Today finished threading the reed, tied on to the front roller, and started tying up the treadles. Will link to the guide I used, alongside Joanne Halls, guide, it seems that with treadles hinged at the front, way out beyond the weavers seating position, that I dont need to allow extra texsolv length to accommodate the depth of 8 shafts, also tied up the treadles on the left higher than on the right - to provide the same shed opening. A Preliminary test with the locking pins out indicates that all is good… nice open sheds. A wee bit to sort — need to switch from beads under the treadles to a loop of texsolv (as I have enough to do that).
Apron bars are heavy, paris of steel bars, wonder how they will go with a finer warp, but thats a concern for another day.

Loom maker is said to be an American helicopter pilot who moved to New Zealand and lived in Nelson. He apparently made some spinning wheels too,
Info from NZ companies register, May 1975, directors, Fredric Francis FRAHM
Pamela Toeni FRAHM
Company disestablished 2017/18.

Pam Frahm is listed as exhibiting in New Zealand Acadamy of Fine Arts, 1979/1980/1981/1982 - I would like to think she was a weaver…