CARDING

Introduction
 CONVENTIONAL CARD
• After blow room treatment, hard pressed baled cotton is
reduced to a soft, fleecy condition.
• Fibres in lap are in the form of small tufts which are criss-
cross & entangled with each other.
• Fair amount of seed, husks, shell, motes etc still remains
Hence functions of card are:
1. To loosen fibres from fibre tufts & to individualize fibres
2. To extract sand, leaf, left in cotton by blow room m/cs
3. To covert lap into round strand of loose, soft cotton
(sliver)
Card is the first m/c in spinning which treats fibres
individually
CARDING MACHINE
 Path of Cotton Through a card
• Card consists of mainly three cylindrical drums
with wire points
• Lap sheet is fed to licker-in, which in turn feed
small tufts of cotton on to cylinder.
• Between cylinder & flats fibres are opened out.
• Cylinder deposits fibres onto rotating doffer.
• Doffer comb strips thin layer of fibres in web
form.
• The web condensed in the form of sliver is then
coiled into can.
 Description of card
• Feed Rollers: Lap is gripped between feed rollers & feed plate,
before it is subjected to the action of saw teeth of licker-in.
Feed rate is about 20 cm per min.
• Licker-in (taker-in): A roller of about 25 cm diameter is
covered with saw teeth. It makes 400-900 rpm & revolves
towards feed part of machine.
Function is to separate tufts in lap into smaller tufts & also to
clean fibres from dirt, seed & other foreign impurities.
• Mote knives: Specially shaped knives to remove motes, seeds .
Placed below feed rollers.
Motes refers to specks of dust & other impurities attached to
cotton fibres.
 Description of card contd…
• Licker-in Undercasing: A screen placed below licker-in.
• Consisting of a metal cover with suitable grids in the middle through
which impurities fall.
• Back-Plate: A metal plate used to make m/c air tight so that no
foreign element can interfere with cotton inside machine.
Setting between back plate & cylinder govern quality of web.
• Cylinder: A metal drum of 125 cm dia. rotating at 200-500 rpm
• Outer surface is covered with card fillet.
• The wires have a knee bend & cotton-wool-cotton foundation gives
sufficient flexibility & support.
• Usually fillets for cylinder are 5 cm wide & are wound spirally
throughout width of cylinder.
• Cylinder rotate towards delivery end of machine & bent wires also
point in the same direction.
 Description of card
• Cylinder Undercasing: Metal undercasing for cylinder with
grids at middle similar to licker-in undercasing.
• Flats: Metal strips from 90- 110 working in a chain on top of
cylinder throughout width of machine. (size of flats 5x100 cm)
• Flats are supported at two ends on suitable bends which are
flexible & adjustable.
• Bare flats are covered with fillets having cotton-wool-cotton
foundation & wire points with usual knee.
• Working flats are made to move in the same or opposite
direction as the cylinder moves but wire points are pointed
opposite to that of the cylinder points.
• Flats have very slow speed about 10 cm/ min.
 Description of card
• Front Plate: A metal plate put on delivery end of card. By
setting of the front plate to cylinder, the amount of air will pass
on flats is reduced.
• Doffer: A metal drum usually 68 cm dia. Drum is covered with
fillets like that of cylinder. Doffer rotate in the feed end of
machine buts its wire points towards delivery. i.e in the same
direction as that of cylinder wire points.
• Doffer is to remove the fibres from cylinder & get them onto
doffer surface.
• Revolution of doffer range from 10-60 rpm depending upon
desired rate of production.
• Doffer Comb: A thin strip of metal comb placed very
close to doffer surface & made to vibrate at a speed of
1500-1800 oscillation/min.
• Function of doffer comb is to strip fibres from surface
of doffer in the form of thin sheet (called web)
• Web is made to pass through a condensing trumpet to
make into the form of rope called sliver. The
condensed sliver is transported & compressed by a pair
of calender rollers.
• From calender roller sliver is passed onto coiler
mechanism which lays the sliver in coils in the can.
 Card Stripping
• As card works on, fibres get embeded into fillets of cylinder, doffer &
flats.
• Object of stripping is to clean all the fillets.
• Roller Stripping: A roller with bent wires is used for stripping.
Stripping roller for cylinder & doffer is about 20 cm dia.
• This roller is covered with wire teeth about 20 mm in length, where
each teeth has a knee bent in it. (Most commonly used)
• Vacuum Stripping: Stripping is done by air & therefore system is
cleaner & better than roller stripping
• Vacuum is used to suck fibres, dust & dirt of cloting wire.
• Both cylinder & doffer is equipped with stands & traverse motion for
vacuum nozzle.
• Card room is provided with vacuum pipe lines from pump through a
collector & separator.
• A stripping hose is connected at convenient outlets to permanent
traverse motion on cylinder or doffer for applying suction on cards.
 Card Grinding
• Object of grinding is to sharpen the tips of wires.
• In grinding, a very delicate turned over edge is given to wire.
• This turned edge of flat & cylinder holds cotton & good combing
action takes place.
• Long Roller Grinding: Long grinding roller is about 22 cm dia.
& about 106 cm long & is covered with emery fillets.
• This rotating grinding roller is made to traverse backward &
forward over a distance of 5 cm.
• Owing to its traverse, roller imparts a certain amount of side
grinding to wire.
 Traverse Grinder
• Consists of 10 cm wide roller covered with emery fillet &
mounted on a hollow barrel in such a way that it is free to
revolve but can also slide along entire width of card.
• This is more commonly used than roller type
Consideration for good grinding
• Time required for grinding depends on following points
1. Condition of Wires: When points of wires get dull or blunt a
longer time is required for grinding
2. Grade of Emery: Coarse emery cuts much better than fine
emery & thus require shorter grinding duration
3. Pressure: More the pressure exerted by grinding roller the
shorter be the grinding duration
• With heavily pressed during grinding than more danger of
injuring wire. In light grinding the greater time is required to
grind but danger of injuring wire is less.
• Hardened wires are ground more slowly than soft wire.
Grinding of Flats:
• Grinding of flats can be done even when m/c is working.
• Flats works on a chain on the upper part of cylinder.
• Lower flats works with cylinder while upper flats are free &
there is an arrangement for proper cleaning by suitable brush &
comb.
• Flats are ground on a special flat grinding machine where three
flats are placed on a special feed table on all the four sides. After
grinding , flats are tested for uniformity of grinding.
• Grinding on flat grinding m/c gives more accurate results
 Performance of card
• Card Waste: waste loss at each card is determined at periodic
interval to keep it under control. Card waste is classified as:
1. Licker-in waste: It falls underneath licker-in & consists mainly
of leaves, dirt, broken seeds, & all heavy impurities.
2. Cylinder & Doffer Fly: Fly waste consists of short fibres & light
dust that have dropped from cylinder & doffer . Fly contributes
about 0.5% to the waste.
3. Flat Waste: Fibre material removed from flats by flat stripping
comb is called flat strips. Flat strip contain many more short ,
immature & broken fibres, neps & trash and amount to 1.5-2.5%
4. Stripping Waste: It is waste stripped from cylinder & doffer wire
by stripping process. It consists chiefly short fibres, dust & dirt.
5. Other Waste: It includes clearer roller waste, sweeping &
invisible loss due to dust & short fibres floating away in air.
These are very small & amount to 0.5%