Pin Drafting

It’s been a while since the last blog entry, but that doesn’t reflect how busy we’ve been. We’ve spent our time getting our washroom set up again and processing fiber into roving. The pin drafter and spinner arrived in July, but it took a little time to get them connected. We have an amazing electrician who did the research for us to connect 3-phase machines to our one-phase power. The machines have variable frequency drives (VFD) that control the flow of electricity. Pretty fascinating!

The pin drafter is an impressive machine, very simple, yet complex. There are around 50 combs with sharp teeth moving in unison on a loop. These combs pull and draft the fiber to align them and create a more uniform roving for the spinner. When everything moves together, it works well, but the timing, alignment and humidity have to be just right to accomplish that task. We continue to learn every day and look forward to a beautiful pin drafted coil of alpaca fiber!