Cleanroom Enginerding

Well, if you may recall, I had put my carding on temporary hold while I attempted to find a solution for "dust" or rather "fiber" collection...the ideal solution would be to move it outside, but until I can make the break from the corporate world or find a job with flexibility in a more temperate location where land and housing is cheaper, that Grand Plan will have to wait. I would so love to have an outdoor "shed" where I could card and dye! (psst - anyone know someone looking for a project manager or a quality engineer?)

I priced out any number of options from professional fume hoods (way too expensive, not to mention not feasible in my house) to high end dust collectors and finally decided to see if I could engineer myself a solution.

I'm pleased to present my personal engineering design:


I took a page from my cleanroom engineering days and designed and built a small negative pressure environment for my carder...I even tested the airflow with pieces of paper :P


It's got a smallish opening for me to be able to feed wool in...


And the fan is there to provide the negative pressure to the environment...to trap the miniscule dust bits, I'm using a high end furnace filter...

Who would think I would use my engineering degree more for my fiber business vs my "real" job?! I certainly didn't! Oh, and it seems to work great too - I spent a portion of last weekend replenishing some batts :)