Fiber Mill

PICKER - The picker opens the fiber removing tangles. Giving it a fluffy cotton candy appearance. Without this process the carder would be damaged by tangled fiber. The wire panels on the floor allow dirt to settle out and be removed.

 PICKER ROOM - Suri fiber that has been opened by the picker.

CARDER - The carding process turns a fluffy mass of fiber into a stream of parallel fibers.

CARDER ROVING MAKER - on the outlet side of the carder the fiber is removed from the doffer drum by the short up and down strokes of the doffer comb.  The web of fiber is then drawn through a diz,( a piece of plastic with a hole in it ) which forms it into a roving. Then passes through a false spinner ( driven by the yellow belt in picture) which uses a twist-untwist action to make the roving hold together better.

DRAW FRAME - This machine combines 2 or more rovings together and drafts them at a 2.5 to 1 ratio to make them more consistent. This is a very important step to prepare the roving for machine spinning. This machine also uses a false spinner to improve the rovings ability to hold together as it feeds into the spinner.

8 SPINDLE SPINNER- This is where the fiber is turned into yarn. If every step leading up to this was done correctly the result is a very nice single ply yarn. Any inconsistencies in any process leading up to this one will show up here resulting in a poor quality yarn.

TUMBLER - The tumbler is a very useful tool used to shake dirt and debris out of the fiber before it is washed. This is the first step in processing fiber, then it is put on a skirting table to remove any foreign objects that may damage the carder. Next it is washed and dried at room temperature in a drying box with continuous flow of air. Once it is dry it is ready for the picker. This picture should be displayed at the top of the page as this is the first step in the process, but I'm sure if you've gotten this far on the page you have a general understanding of how yarn is made.

 

 SPINNER - This is how the roving is fed into the back side of the spinner. We have a 4- head spinner which is used for plying the single ply yarn into multiple ply yarn. 2 ply is the most common we make. Once it is plied it is wound on a skein winder and steamed to set the twist. We can also wind it onto cones, but I feel skeins are a better way to display your yarn, it feels so much softer in a skein.

Mesdan pneumatic splicer, used to make knot free splices. Works well with single or plyed yarn.

Skein Winder Steamer - Takes yarn from bobbins, steams it to set the twist, and winds it into a skein.

Two Leesona cone winders are mounted under skein winder unit.