Ashford
drum carders can card a large 50 gr (2 ounce) batt. The Ashford carder offers
two speeds: Use the ratio of 6:1 for preparing your fleece. The controlled
intake will produce a smooth batt even batt ready for blending, spinning or
felting. Use the 4: 1 ratio to blend sliver, colors or different fiber types. They are great for carding
wool, blending fibers: wool and mohair, merino and silk, experiment!
Ashford drum carders offer adjustable 7.5 inch wide drums to suit all fibers. A
strong poly belt on the outside of the drum carder frame allows for a smooth
carding operation. Danish oil finish. Comes complete with clamps and doffer.
FREE shipping in the continental US.
NEW!
Brush Attachment for Ashford Drum Carder
This brush will help make a thicker batt. Great when carding
extremely fine fibers such as angora bunny.
NEW! The Ashford Book of Carding,
Jo Reeve Learn
how to use flick cards, hand cards and drum carders. Find out how to process
fleece into roving and how to blend colors and fibers. Projects: Self-striping
socks; Merino mittens; Triangular shawl; Merino and silk scarf. 92pp.
Louet Drum
Carders
No
Need to Tease! Feed fiber directly into the licker-in (feeder drum) Louet drum carders have a larger licker-in drum and no need to adjust drums or drum
placement! Louet drum carder teeth are longer and flexible! Louet drum carders
eat right out of your hand! Louet drum carders have twice
as much capacity as other drum carders! Louet carders emove
dirt from
fiber as it cards
and sealed gears prevent dirt and fibers from getting into the machine! Doffer brush, clamps and
doffer pin included!
Let Louet quality speak for itself: Louet
has been manufacturing Louet Drum Carders for more than 20 years for the market
world wide and has never had to replace carding cloth due to wear of the carding
cloth that could be attributed to the intertwining of the teeth. Again,
in more than 20 years, Louet has never replaced a gearbox.
Louet Roving
Carder
Roving Carder with fine cloth and a 4 inch wide drum.
Enclosed gears for smooth and easy operation. No lubrication is needed,
and no adjustment of any kind is required to keep this carder in great
shape! High, flexible teeth that allow for a heavier batt. Fully
assembled. Complete with doffer brush, clamps and doffer.
Louet Drum
Carders have a 8" wide drum for large carding capacity. The enclosed
gearbox assures smooth operation, while the extra high, flexible,
intermeshing teeth allow for a heavier batt than other drum carders as
well as a high carding efficiency. Easy to use these drum carders have stood
the test of time. Choose from coarse or fine cloth.
Strauch Drum Carders
The Strauch drum carders, formerly called Fricke
drum carders, offer a sturdy
chain drive for no-slip, durable operation. Paired with a solid,
attractive wood frame and a "Slicker-Licker" drum that feeds the
fiber evenly and quickly without damaging them, the Strauch drum carders
make carding you fleece easy. Strauch drum carders have been
produced for over 25 years and proven themselves among spinners and fiber
artists. Now produced by Strauch Fiber Equipment Co in Virginia, Strauch drum carders drum carders are an investments for years to come.
Doffer brush
and knuckle-saving-batt-picker and dabber brush included with all drum
carders. Lifetime warranty. Proudly produced in the U.S.A. Choose from three models and three
different carding clothes.
An 8" wide drum, the sturdy chain drive mechanism and
the "slicker-licker" drum are the strong points of
this versatile drum carder. The "slicker-licker"
drum pre-aligns the fibers and allows for a more gentle carding action.
Overall batt size is approx 7" by 22". Sturdy wood frame. Choose
from regular, fine or extra fine carding cloth. Double wide models
produce a batt about 14" by 22 long. Optional brush attachment for
fine "fly-away" fibers.
The Finest Strauch Drum Carder
A 5:1 gear ratio, and an extra husky 6" frame make
this the ultimate in home carding. Sturdy chain drive mechanism and the
"slicker-licker" drum. The "slicker-licker" drum
pre-aligns the fibers and allows for a more gentle carding action. This
drum carder can be placed anywhere on your work surface without hindering
the carding operation, due to the higher frame. Wood frame with
honey-oak finish. 8" wide drum makes a batt that is about 7" by
22" long. Extra fine carding cloth with brush attachment. (This
feature is standard with the Finest Drum Carder, optional with the Petite
and the 200's Series) Complete with doffer brush, knuckle saving batt
picker, clamps, teasing tool and dabber brush as shown above. Also
available as a double wide model with a 15" wide drum that makes a
14" wide batt.
Purchase a Strauch Finest drum
carder and get the "The Ashford Book of Carding" FREE with purchase! Teach yourself how to create custom
color and fiber blends!
The Strauch
Petite Drum Carder
This compact Strauch drum carder kit is designed to save you $$
without compromising results. It is light weight and portable, the feed
tray even slides under the drum carder. Durable polyurethane belt
drive. 6.5" wide drum with extra fine carding cloth. Shown with
optional brush attachment
Which
carding cloth should I choose?
Regular:
72 teeth per square inch, Can be used for coarse and mid-range fibers such
as Cheviot, Romney and adult Mohair. Useful for long fibers such as Border
Leichester to get a deep batt. NOT recommended for fine fibers.
Fine: 98
teeth per square inch. For most fibers, again NOT recommended for fine
fibers.
Extra Fine:
128 teeth per square inch. For ALL fibers, especially very fine varieties.
Can be used for Merino, Llama, Alpaca, Cashmere, Dog Hair and other
exotics.
Strauch Drum
Carder Accessories
Brush Attachments
Brush attachments for drum carders act like
a third drum. They compact the batt, make it thicker and help with those
"fly-away" fibers such as angora.
Knuckle Saving Batt
Picker
Use to separate batt from carding drum at
seam by lifting and away from teeth.
Teasing Tool
Use this nifty tool to pre-tease fibers
before carding
Other drum carder accessories
such as clamps, doffer brush, and drum carder belts available by special
order. E mail us for info.
Hand Cards
NEW! John
Day Wool Hand Cards
NEW! These new hand cards are
value priced without compromising quality. Built to last. Fine 112 tpi
carding cloth that can card coarse, medium and fine wools. Nice curved
carding surface. Tung Oil finish. This is a special introductory price!
Don't miss out! Proudly produced in the U.S.A.
$54.95
Quantity
Louet Handcards
Made from Tulipwood, a popular Dutch variety, these
light weight hand cards have curved handles and contoured backs that will
make carding wool comfortable. Choose from three Louet hand cards and one flick card.
Standard
pair of wool hand cards with medium fine cloth: 45psi
Standard
pair of cotton hand cards with extra fine cloth: 60psi
Mini Cotton hand cards with extra fine cloth have half size paddles. Ideal for small
quantities or people with wrist problems
Ashford
Hand Cards
Standard
Hand Cards
These
hand carders offer a curved carding surface and nice detailing. Choose
from 72 tpi for all wools or 108 tpi for fine wools and cotton.
Student Hand Cards
Ashford
hand carders with 72
tpi and a unique curved one-piece design make these ideal for all wools.
Flick Cards
Louet Flicker
Curved
Tulipwood paddles, is 2"x4" and has less flexible teeth that the
other cards. Used to tease locks for fiber preparation.
$30.00 Quantity
Ashford Flicker
Ashford flick cards has 72 tpi. Great for pre-teasing or carding
smaller amounts of fibers.
Combs & Hackles
Louet Mini Combs
Light in weight and easy to handle, these popular Louet wool
combs will make combing a breeze! Single row wool combs work great for medium to
fine fibers and double row combs are ideal for combing fine wool or de-hairing
luxury fibers such as Cashmere or Pygora.
The
most important difference between the Louet drum carders and other drum carders
is the method of supplying fiber to the drums. Most drum carders have a feed
tray where teased fibers are deposited and then pushed towards the small or
intake drum. Next, this intake drum transports the fibers to the large drum. The
Louet drum carder has a small board below and in front of the in-take drum. This
board exists for construction purposes only. The board is not designed to be a
feed tray.
To feed the Louet drum carder, take some fibers in your left hand, and have the
in-take drum pull this fiber out of your left hand, while you turn the crank on
the large drum. Carefully, do not allow too much fiber to be pulled out of your
hand. You will develop a kind of sliver between your hand and the in-take drum.
This is a fiber preparation, akin to the teasing required for other drum
carders, and is therefore a time-saving feature of the Louet drum carder. As a
result of the fibers being pulled out of your hand, the majority of fibers will
be orientated in the direction of the carding action.
This effect cannot be created by teasing, but it is essential in
obtaining the required carding effect.
Other
drum carders with feed trays will experience tufts of fiber being delivered to
the in-take roll perpendicular to the direction of the carding action; this is
unavoidable. Partial compensation for this problem is having a larger difference
of surface speed between the in-take drum and the large drum. The
drawback to this solution is that it takes longer to card the same amount of
fiber with other drum carders when compared to the Louet Drum Carder.
The higher surface speed differential is also harder on the fibers. To calculate
the surface speed differential, multiply the drive ratio with the ratio of the
diameters of the two drums.
To
have the fibers pull out of your hand smoothly while turning the drum carder
handle requires some practice. The results, however, are worth the effort.
Fibers
are held down by the carding cloth after the fibers are deposited on the large
drum and do not change position. It is our experience that extra drums with the
Louet Drum Carder have minimal benefit.
The
Louet drum carder has ½" high carding cloth instead of ¼" like our
competitors. The practical result of higher teeth on the carding cloth is that
the Louet drum carder can hold twice as much fiber as our competitors drum
carders.
The quantity of fiber that can be carded to a batt depends on the size of the
large drum and the size of the teeth. If you want to card a small amount of
fiber, we advise to fill only the center portion of the large drum. It is easier
to remove the batt from the middle of the drum than to remove a thinner batt
from the whole drum.
The
drums on an industrial carder are adjusted so that they do not touch each other.
This is necessary due to the multiple steps required in the industrial carding
process. It is our experience, however, that with a drum carder that has cloth
with flexible teeth, the best results are obtained when the teeth intertwine.
The exact depth of intertwining is not important. Louet has been
manufacturing Louet Drum Carders for more than 20 years for the market world
wide and we have never had to replace carding cloth due to wear of the carding
cloth that could be attributed to the intertwining of the teeth.
The
distance between the drums of the Louet Drum Carders cannot be adjusted. In
general, the fewer adjustments required, the less likely that something can go
wrong. The closed gearbox required no maintenance or adjustments.
Again,
in more than 20 years, we have never replaced a gearbox.
The
guards on the sides of the drums cause the fibers to stay on the drums and not
accumulate around the shafts of the drums. This saves cleaning time and
adjusting time that is required by our competitors.
Besides
higher teeth the Louet carding cloth also has two other significant differences
with our competitor's carding cloth. The teeth are placed in the carding cloth
in a way that allows the teeth to flex in the direction of the carding action.
This flexing makes the carding process easier on the fibers, causing less fiber
breakage. The teeth are staggered alternately. They do not form continuous rows
of teeth as in other drum carders. The combined effects of these teeth and teeth
placement is a more homogeneous carding result.
Due
to the unique features of teeth placement, size, and flexibility, the commonly
used comparative feature of "number of teeth per square" in carding
cloth does not give an accurate indication of what to expect from Louet Drum
Carders.
The
in-take drum on the Louet drum carder accumulates more fibers than other drum
carders. For best result, we recommend to leave this fiber on the take-up drum,
and only clean the take-up drum if it is absolutely necessary due to
incompatibility of fiber to be carded, or color changes.