Awesome project! I built a somewhat similar 30-pixel display: https://www.chrisfenton.com/the-pixelweaver/
Mine was entirely mechanical (driven by punch cards and a hand-crank), and changed all of the pixels in parallel, but a lot of the mechanism development looked extremely familiar to me.
This is incredible! I can appreciate how much work it took to make this happen. Well done!
I was recently in the presence of some linotype machines from the 1800s and it's so good to be humbled by the achievements of people who came before us. That machine was so complex, I could barely begin to figure out how to manufacture one. Your discussion of looms reminds me of that!
If you enjoy linotype machines, I'll suggest you watch 'Farewell ETAOIN SHRDLU', a documentary on the last night the New York Times ran its hot press system