You can card any fiber that is at least 1" long. It is important to remember that all Strauch drum carders will handle any fiber without the need to change drums or make any adjustments. The reason is the combination of three design features:

1. Fine carding cloth on the large drum
2. The brush attachment
3. The unique "Slicker-licker" cloth on the small drum

For more details go to the Technical Information About Drum Carders section

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Loosen the wing nuts and push the brush down so that there is a little pressure on the drum. The bristles can bend about 1/4 inch. This method is great if you want to pack a lot of fiber on the drum.

Move the brush to the UP position to remove the batt. IMPORTANT: Do not turn the carding drum backwards when the brush is in the down position. Doing this will damage the brush bristles.

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Only our Finest series of chain drive models can be upgraded to the motorized version. The 200 series cannot because there is not enough room under the 4" frame for the motor and electronics. The Finest series uses a taller 6" high frame.

To modify a 200 series involves so may new parts, including the frame, that it's just not cost effective.

What others have done is to sell their carder and purchase a new, modern motorized Finest. Used Strauch carders are hard to find. You will have no trouble selling it to a friend, or on Ebay, Ravelry etc.

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It really does not make sense. Modern Strauch machines use so many newly redesigned components that replacing all of them on your carder is not economical.

A suggestion, however: most of those old machines have the very coarse carding cloth on both drums. These carders are actually desired by felters. The coarse cloth allows for a lot of fiber to be pack onto it. They are not looking to obtain a high quality batt desired by hand spinners. Owners of these machines may consider selling them (for instance, on eBay) and buying a world class universal drum carder made by Strauch.

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Drum ratio is defined as the number of times the large drum rotates for one rotation of the small drum. The higher the ratio, the faster the pins on large drum whip past the teeth on the small drum. So what does this really mean?

In general, the higher the drum ratio, the better the blending. But this does have practical limitations. For instance consider a 25:1 ratio. You are going to crank that large drum 25 times before the small drum goes around once. Think about how your shoulder is going to feel!

Testing various ratios on the Strauch machines has shown that a 5:1 ratio is a good balance between physical cranking and blending quality.

Our Finest series has a 5:1 ratio. The 200 series and Petite are 4:1. The large drum of the Finest is spinning 20% faster past the small drum compared to the other two carders.

So why do we have this difference? In a word...cost. The finest is our top of the line drum carder and we wanted to maximize all the features and benefits associated with the machine. Different parts are used on the Finest and they are more expensive. That is not to say the the 200 series or Petite are not good blending carders. They are, The Finest is better.

As an analogy, consider driving a Cadillac or Chevy to go to the store. Both will get you there but the Caddy will do it faster, more comfortabily and with style!

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Remember that I have always said the my drum carders will card any fiber.

I know it is generally accepted that fine very short fibers (an inch or less) such as cashmere, qiviut (musk ox) and cotton cannot be carded with a drum carder. This is true with other machines because pins are used on both drums. Only the Strauch drum carder comes with the unique "Slicker-Licker" cloth on the infeed drum. These are smooth blades NOT pins! This allows for any fiber to be able to be processed. But....the techniques for handling each fiber is different.

For short fine fibers, turn the drum very slowly to allow the fiber to be picked up by the infeed drum and released onto the large drum. If you crank too fast, the fibers stick to the small drum.

The problem with fiber under, say one inch, is that you can't get it off the drum because the fibers have not "locked" together. This is especially the case with cashmere, qiviut and cotton. Cotton is notorious since the fibers are so short. It's like carding dust!

But it can be done. Here are two techniques we tried with our very short cashmere and it also worked with cotton:

I really loaded lots of the fiber onto the large drum so that it had no choice but to come off in a batt. I then put it through again, really loading the large drum. This worked well and the end result was a very fluffy batt which you could easily spin. I break off hand sized sections and spin those.

Another suggestion: One way to card fiber shorter than one inch is to put a little of a longer fiber on the carder first. Not too much, but enough to very lightly cover the large drum. This forms a "net" for the shorter fiber and helps to pull it off the drum. As an example, I tried this with very short cashmere I had de-haired by hand. I put a light layer of very fine Merino on first then carded the cashmere then another light layer of Merino. The cashmere was sandwiched between the layers of Merino and came off the drum easily. I still had 95% cashmere. This little bit of Merino also added some elasticity to the spun fiber.

You can blend with very short fibers: As an example, I raise cashmere goats which are combed each spring and the fiber sent out for dehairing. What I get back are beautiful carded clouds.

However, in the dyeing process, it became very slightly matted and I was able to use the Strauch drum carder with success and have spun the fiber into beautiful yarn.

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You DON'T need different drums with the Strauch carder. One drum with the "05 Fine"-128 tpi cloth can be used for ALL fibers, especially the very fine varieties. This cloth works very well with Merino, Llama, Alpaca, Cashmere blend, dog hair and other exotics.

Different drums, with coarser cloth, are offered, on the 200 series. These are for those with special carding needs--like felters who want a thick batt with fibers not precisely aligned.

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Yes, you can. They are $10.00 each (includes postage).

Note: To extend the life of drive belts, remove them from the machine when you are finished for the day.

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My carders will handle any fiber, long or short, coarse or fine, without changing drums or adjusting drum spacing. Fibers such as alpaca, merino, cormo, angora bunny, mohair cards beautifully with the Strauch carder.

They require no routine maintenance....no lubricating, no "tweaking" of adjustments....just take it out of the box, screw on the handle (or plug it in if you have chosen a motorized Finest) and away you go!

Years of testing and positive feedback from customers has proven that using our brush attachment produces the highest quality batt. Therefore as of January 1, 2010, all Strauch drum carders will come with our brush attachment as standard equipment.

They are truly universal carders. Each machine has the fine card (05) cloth on the large drum and unique "Slicker-Licker" on the smaller infeed drum. So......the questions you need to ask is NOT which carder will handle which fiber but rather:

1. How much carding am I planning to do?
2. How much space to I have?
3. How much do I want to spend?
4. How long do I want the machine to last?

Here's a summary of the three series of Strauch drum carders (more details and a handy comparison chart can be found here):

1. The Petite is the only model with a polyurethane belt drive. This carder is part of our product line specifically for fiber artists who have budget or space considerations but want a Strauch carder. The Petite is an excellent choice for a mid-sized carder with full sized features. The Petite is slightly smaller (6 1/2" wide drums) than the standard chain drive models (7 3/4" wide). It comes with a table clamp and of course, the brush attachment.
2. The 205 is standard size carder for those folks who want a chain drive but not all the accessories that are included with the top of the line "Finest".
3. The flagship model is the "Finest". This chain drive model comes complete with all available accessories including the brush attachment. The 6" high frame permits a larger sprocket on the small drum. This makes a 5:1 ratio between the drums, which allows more carding action per revolution. This 5:1 ratio allows for minimal turning of the large drum to produce an excellent, well blended batt; 2-3 passes are usually sufficient. An added benefit is that the carder's handle swings free of the table's surface hence the carder does not have to be at table's edge And finally, the Finest is available as a motorized version. If you decide on the manual model, it can later be upgraded with the motor.
4. For those who need a larger production rate, a double wide chain drive series is available.

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