Gentle spinning: A game changer

Basant Fibertek explains the phenomenal benefits in process, cost and quality that can be a game changer for the spinning business.

All spinners would agree that they could produce a better yarn if they can ensure good fibre opening and cleaning while avoiding fibre rupture. Yet, most preparatory lines meet this objective only partially. The objective of this paper is to present a case for how to achieve gentle opening and good cleaning of fibres without rupture and the phenomenal benefits in the process, cost and quality that can truly prove to be a game changer for the spinning business. 

The aim for any preparatory process should be to retain the original properties of the fibres and yet achieve good opening and cleaning. Reaching this target gets more challenging as the speeds and production rates of beaters and cards increase.

Most spinners know that a majority of the process problems encountered take birth at the preparatory stage of blowroom and carding. Many prefer using wire over pins purely from operating convenience point of view. They believe that wire costs less to replace, replacement in case of an accident is easy and fast. Still others may choose to play safe and follow the OEM recommendation or prefer to continue using what came with the machine. 

Based on our experience at Basant Fibertek and the numerous studies we have conducted in various mills in India and abroad, we shall attempt to address most of these issues in this article. 

Pin Wear

The pins help to disentangle the fibres without rupture whereas the wire tends to rip open the neps. This creates rupture as well as micro dust. Further, wire tends to pulverize the trash, making it more difficult to remove it from the fibres as opposed to the pins that have a dedusting action on the fibres, resulting in the trash being separated from the fibers without getting broken into smaller particles. 

Another major benefit of pins is that the rounded tip wears out very slowly and a new tip keeps getting formed as the original one wears out. The resultant effect is that pins last 5-10 times that of wire, thus ensuring more consistency in quality, besides dramatically increasing life multifold.

Having interacted with many competent technical people in the industry over the past years, we can emphatically state that only a few, after a scientifically conducted trial on their particular fibre mix, have come to a conclusion regarding whether wire or pins are better suited for their requirement.

Gentle opening and cleaning of fibres ensures a high quality, clean card sliver with lower content of short fibers. This in turn significantly reduces the level of comber noil, seed-coats sticking inside combers, the level of ends down on the ring frame and winder cuts This can have a huge overall impact on productivity, quality, efficiency and cost reduction, all leading to a dramatic boost in profitability. This is why we believe that gentle opening is a game changer for the spinning business. 

Over the years, we have been successful in replacing saw-tooth beaters with pin type in all types and makes of Beaters for all types of fibres, in India and abroad. Similarly, many successful retrofits of Pinned Lickerins are running in Single Lickerin Cards of all makes and models for counts from 2s to 80s.  We have successful installations for virgin as well as recycled fibres, cotton as well as synthetic fibres, grey as well as dyed fibres, short as well as long staple. 

If we do not have an existing installation for a certain type of fibre mix or machine, we offer the client a risk free trial with money back guarantee in case the trial doesn’t meet the pre-agreed objectives. All we need is a client willing to try something new with an open mind and full commitment, which is a prerequisite for any successful attempt at innovation and progress. 

The risk of damage to pins is lower than for wire because pins are optimally heat-treated to ensure that they are resistant to bending or breaking easily. Pin rollers can be repinned at less than half the cost of new. Moreover, pin rollers do not require frequent cleaning.

We at Basant Fibertek are committed to serve and guide our clients in spinning to create a new benchmark for the global industry for quality, productivity and profitability and claim their true place in the world. The expertise we have acquired is largely through client experience sharing and cooperation in studies. For us, customer success is our success. We are ready to serve as soon as our client is ready to explore growth through continuous process improvement. As one customer once rightly commented, “ Competitiveness is like a treadmill. You have to keep running to stay in the same place!”