The picker is the first step in the process after washing, it does just what it's
called...it picks out matter other than alpaca fiber. Hopefully the
fiber that comes in is in good enough shape that not much picking is
necessary the number of times the fiber has to be run drives up costs and
waste. There are two basic functions; opening and blending. In opening
the fiber is placed on the conveyor and fed into the rotating drum and then
rapidly teased as it passes out the rear and into a collecting room.
Blending can then occur if desired to blend colors or mixes of various fiber
types.
Fiber Separator/De-hairer
The fiber separator is designed to accept clean fiber and
to separate fine fiber from coarser fiber and any left over vegetable matter
such as hay, seeds or burrs. The unwanted material collects in a
chamber beneath the machine and the fine fiber is combed from the end of the
machine in the form of a web.
Carder
The carder is the heart
of the fiber processing mill. It takes a random mass of fiber and transforms
it into a continuous web, either to form a "batt" for felt making, or drawn
together to form a "sliver" it is also capable of producing "bumps" with an
optional bump winder installed. The fibers are individually separated from
each other. It also aligns the fibers and provides even delivery in
the form of a consistent web for roving and for yarn to be produced. We are set up with two large carders at
All Alpaca Fiber Mill.
Felter
The felter produces
felt sheets from loose fiber in about 10 minutes. The lid floats to
allow different thicknesses of fiber to be used and the required pressure is
applied by a series of expansion springs and screw down clamp handles.
This machine works with pressure and vibration on wet fiber to entangle the fibers together
which results in 3'x4' beautiful sheets of alpaca felt. Different
colors and pattern effects can be created, limited only by the users
imagination.
This is an overview of the shop with other equipment that we'll describe
as we go along and continue to work on the site. For instance the
spinner is another very interesting and important part of the process. This
allows us to decide on the weight of yarn. There are four different
yarn weights.
The Spinner
The spinner produces high quality spun yarn. There are two parts to
the professional spinning system, the draft and the twist. Usually the
desired product is 2ply or 3ply yarn so the spinning operation requires
making "singles" and "plying" these sophisticated machines give the
operator control over the twist per inch, thickness of yarn and rate of
production. Once it is set up properly it performs virtually
unattended. Now, anyone who has tried hand spinning knows just how
hard it is to maintain consistency and there is something to be said for the
"imperfection" of the human touch that does add a certain uniqueness to each
yarn spun but the finest of finished products must come from the finest of
spun yarn and for that there is nothing that can compare to a professional
spinner!
Drafting (no, not the NASCAR kind!)
Following is a short video where BJ explains the
"drafting process" and why it's necessary. The machine is
called a "draw frame" In all of the
processes Suri fiber and Huacaya fiber act differently so it's important for
a mill to understand those differences and be able to manipulate the fiber
processing to produce the finest finished product for each kind of alpaca.
This draws out or drafts the fiber, which is the reduction
of width to length or linear density of the fiber stream or sliver. The
output is measured by an electronic meter which stops processing when the set
limit is reached. After drafting the sliver is open and relatively weak,
with little fiber contact. The twisters induce more inter-fiber contact
which produces a consolidated sliver, suitable for further processing.
The Steamer
The steamer is designed to "set" the
yarn. Fiber has a tendency to revert to an earlier relaxed state, which in
the case of spun yarn means an untwisted condition. When the yarn is
properly "set" it accepts and holds the twisted condition. The system
consists of a water chamber and heater, a steam chamber and a steam heated
drying tube. The yarn passes from a bobbin or a cone through the steam
chamber then through the steam heated drying tube, producing a perfectly "set"
product from the end of the tube.
Winders
There are several types of winders; the cone winder, the skein winder and the
ball winder. The cone winder is designed to remove spun yarn from
bobbins, winding from cone to cone and creating knot free yarn products.
Upon encountering a knot or "slub" the winder immediately stops allowing the
operator to splice the yarn using the compressed air driven splicer. Each
winding head is individually measured with separate controls and re-settable
electronic counters.
The skein winder removes single or plied yarn from the bobbin on to a
reel. The yarn is wound into a large circle then usually twisted into a
convenient shape for sale, storage, or further processing such as dying.
This time consuming task is done at a high rate of speed producing several
skeins of yarn simultaneously.
The ball winder is the most recent design added to our selection of
machines. The operation removes a single or plied yarn from a bobbin or
cone and turns it into a ball. The user has control over the shape,
pattern and tension of the ball by simply altering the spindle speed and the
position of the handle. The ball winder winds two balls at once and is
controlled by electronic counters to give you the desired ball size. We
encourage experimentation with all the different process and all yarn sizes at
all angles to create your own unique custom lays.
At AllAlpacaFiberMill and
Kocher Farms, LLC we truly believe in having fun with what you are
doing with your alpaca fiber, if there is something you have in mind
and you don't see it here, communicate with us. We'll do
everything we can to experiment with our equipment and our own
imaginations to try and work together for a processed product that
you want to work with to help create your visions. We are even
creating a network of knitters, weavers and other professionals to
be able to offer you end product to sell as well as wholesale yarns,
batts and felts.
This is an overview of the shop with other equipment that we'll describe
as we go along and continue to work on the site. For instance the
spinner is another very interesting and important part of the process. This
allows us to decide on the weight of yarn. There are four different
yarn weights.