Make your own drum carder?? Anyone?

[crazybest]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has ever made their own drum carder, either manual or electric?  It seems if you have some kind of mechanical abilities you may be able to make one, just need to purchase some wood and the toothed fabric.

Let me know if you have and how it worked out.

Thanks
Kim

[barca1au]

hi crazybest, have you checked this site out? http://www.spinningforth.com/articles/tools/carder.html
Otherwise a board carder would be quite simple to make - a flat board covered with carder cloth, and either a dog slicker, or if you are really into DIY, you could make a hand made carder. They are similar in shape to a table tennis bat, just not as round or large.

[TheBon]

I know there's a thread here about this, but I can't find it right now. The issue with making your own drum carder is that carding cloth is frequently difficult to find and extremely expensive. I do know someone who had her husband make her a roving carder and she said that in the long run it didn't cost any less than buying one because the carding cloth was so expensive.

[barca1au]

The article I gave the link to has a link to a carder cloth supplier in the States. I don't know how much your cloth costs, but certainly making your own hand carders isn't worth it, or re-clothing them.
However it is worth making a table carder and definitely worth making a drum carder on Australian prices. Both items process fibre much quicker than hand carders. I have even seen a photo of a table carder that had what looked like a rolling pin with carder cloth over it that you could roll up and down the carder cloth base, that looked pretty cool, and much easier to use!
Cheers, Caroline

[Aslan B]

The article I gave the link to has a link to a carder cloth supplier in the States. I don't know how much your cloth costs, but certainly making your own hand carders isn't worth it, or re-clothing them.
However it is worth making a table carder and definitely worth making a drum carder on Australian prices. Both items process fibre much quicker than hand carders. I have even seen a photo of a table carder that had what looked like a rolling pin with carder cloth over it that you could roll up and down the carder cloth base, that looked pretty cool, and much easier to use!
Cheers, Caroline

Found another source for carder cloth for drums on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/naturalfiberyarns?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Looks to be several sizes and densities. You can use it either to make hard carders or roll them around something to make a drum. I think, at $48 for a 9 3/8" by 12" piece of 54 TPI, not bad!