I have long wished to build a linear braider, one in which the carriers are arranged in-line, rather than around a central region. Such a design would have minimal depth making it more convenient for travel. In the event, and until now, I have had to make do with my Travelling Braider, #7 in my album here, which is fine, but still subject to the vagaries of airport baggage handlers, as I have found to my cost.

By arranging the carriers in line, the sought reduction in depth has been realised here. There are problems though with this arrangement as there is a limit to which carriers can be distant from the central overhead braiding point - the further out they are, the higher must be that point, so we cannot just keep adding in more intermediate carriers to achieve more spools of thread in circulation. But seven spools of 4-ply thread are being circulated by just three carriers here, so a reasonable braid, and braider size, results.

The main footprint of this machine is 9 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 13" high. It will therefore easily fit on its side into a suitcase for transport. Equipped with full spools of thread, it weighs in at just over 3 kg and was documented in SMGJ129 for June 2017.

This braider was partially rebuilt in 2020 to include more straightforward gearing to the overhead drive.