Lap Former Machine

Flow chart of combed yarn production

Input Machine Output

Bale Blow Room Card mat
Card mat Carding Card sliver
Card sliver Breaker draw frame Drawn sliver
Drawn sliver Lap former Lap
Lap Comber Combed sliver
Combed sliver Finisher draw frame Drawn sliver
Drawn sliver Simplex Roving
Roving Ring Combed Yarn

To produce superior quality of cotton yarn i.e., combed cotton yarn, we need to
employ two more extra machines in our spinning line comparing to our conventional
carded yarn manufacturing process. First of all, we need lap formers to produce
regular laps and then comber machines to convert those laps into uniform slivers.

Fig. Lap Former Machine

A regular process flow chart of carded cotton yarn manufacturing displays that after
being processed in carding, the carded slivers are fed into the breaker drawing frame
machine. Breaker drawing frame converts them into more regular sliver and later on
sends it to the finisher drawing frame machine for extending the quality even higher.
But in combed cotton manufacturing system, in between those drawing frames the
lap formers and combers are employed.

Why Lap Former is needed:

Yarns which are made up of longer length of fibers, tend to show less irregularities
in subsequent processes. Those yarns are superior in quality and carry lower
percentage of hairiness as well. A comber machine provides us such uniform and
regular slivers that are free from a predetermined length of short fibers. So, basically
for manufacturing such types of greater quality yarn, use of a comber machine is a
must in our spinning line.

But before we start to manufacture these uniform slivers in comber which ultimately
lead us to craft extra-ordinary yarn, we need to produce a number of uniform laps as
well. To produce those laps, there the lap formers come into action.

As the comber machine is unable to process the drawing frame slivers directly and
relying on lap feeding system only, introduction of the lap former machine becomes
mandatory. Besides, lap feeding system helps the comber to comb it better and
efficiently in comparison to hypothetical sliver feeding system.

Lap Former: The lap former has the charge of developing the laps that is engaged
to feed the comber machine. The laps are achieved through combining or doubling
a definite number of slivers from breaker drawing passage such as- 16 to 32 doubling
or at times even as much as 64 doubling.
 Figure. Lap

Working Procedure of lap former machine:

 Super lap former machine is being used in contemporary system.
 The purpose of employing this machine is to upsurge the weight per unit
length of comber lap.
  There are three creels on the machine, three different zone arrangements and
three diverse feed plates in this machine. Here, 48-60 slivers (in each creel 16-20
slivers) can be fed at a time.
 The slivers passed through the drafting system.
 After drafting, the webs are led through the pairs of calendar rollers and along
a table where they are superimposed, compressed and calendared into a
compact lap.
 Stop motions are set up to all the rollers comprising the calendar rollers and
an indicating light is fixed there.
 Here, doffing of full laps and threading are fully programmed.
Additional Features of lap former machine:
 Automatic weight per unit length adjuster
 Auto Doffing for full laps
 Automatic Stop Motion for –
- Full/partial doffing
- Sliver breakage
- Roller lapping
 Automatic lap carrying device
 Lap length measuring unit
 Indicating lights for different fault location
Tasks of a Lap Former:
 Diminishing the irregularities such as – thick and thin places
 Producing regular and even lap for comber machine
 Declining the fiber damage throughout the processing
 Parallelizing and straightening the fibers in laps
 Lessening the chances of upright fibers waste
 Fig. Material Passage diagram of lap former machine

Brands of Lap Former:

 Trutzschler, Germany.
 Rieter, Switzerland.
 Toyoda, Japan.
 Murata, Japan.
 Lakshmi, India
Methods for producing lap:
Lap doubling method(Conventional) Sliver doubling method(modern)
Carding Carding
Sliver lap machine Breaker Draw Frame
Ribbon lap machine Lap Former
Comber Comber
Draw Frame Finisher Draw Frame

Sliver Lap former machine:

 Individual sliver goes through the guide plate at the rear of the machine.
 Then the slivers are passed over a distinctive spoon.
  The slivers are led through a V-shaped feed table that links them to the neck.
 The slivers are then passed into 3 pairs of roller designs.
 Because of the draft, the fibers are finally sorted, straightened and paralleled.
 Afterwards when, the lap sheet runs through two pairs of calendar rollers that
compact it into a sheet.
 During winding on the spool, tremendous pressure is applied to the bobbin so
that a long compressed lap can be achieved.
 When the appropriate lap length is already rolled to the spool, the Lap Stop
Motion stops the machine immediately.

Ribbon Lap former:

 The process starts with creeling. You already know that the material ended up
here from the sliver lap former. Before feeding them into the drafting rollers, the
laps are opened first.
 The true purpose of this unit is to increase the linear density (wt/length) and
consistency of the lap acquired from the last machine (Sliver Lap Former).
  Here, six to eight laps are served as input. While the output material features
the same width, the thickness gets increased – thanks to the doubling and drafting
process.
 Mostly, 3 over 3 or 4 over 4 drafting arrangements are activated here.
 When the drawing process is complete, we get a material that’s in a web form.
Then, it goes through two more points – the deflector plate’s web table and
calendar rollers.
 At this stage, compacting is done by the calendar rollers (two pairs).
 As a result, we’ll get our desired comber lap. Here, it’s wound on bobbins
(spool type). For achieving a lap that’s compact, 2 fluted rollers are engaged
here.

Mathematical Problem:
1. 70 gr/yd drawing sliver is fed in lap former to form a suitable package
for comber, with draft and doubling of 1.5 and 24 respectively.
Calculate the weight of lap?

𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡/𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

Solution: we know, 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 = × 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔
delivery material wt/length

70
Or, 1.5 = × 24
lap wt/length

Or, lap wt/length = 1120 gr/yd

 1120
Or, lap wt/length = ×1.0936
15.432

= 79.36 gm/m (Ans.)

2. If production of a lap former is 8.424 kg per minute with 25 kg lap,

Calculate doffing time of the lap former machine.

𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
Solution: we know, 𝑑𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 =
𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

25
Or, doffing time = = 2.97 min (ans.)
8.424

3. Calculate production of a lap former having following parameters: feed

sliver count 70 grs/yd, no. of doubling 24, draft 1.25, delivery speed 90
m/min and efficiency 85%

𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡/𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

Solution: 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 = × 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔
delivery material wt/length

70
Or, 1.25 = × 24
lap wt/length

Or, lap wt/length = 1344 gr/yd

1344
Or, lap wt/length = ×1.0936
15.432

= 95.24 gm/m
𝑔𝑚 𝑚
𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑡.( )×𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑( )×60×𝐸𝑓𝑓.
𝑚 min
Production/hr =
1000

95.24×90×60×0.85
=
1000

= 437.16 kg (ans.)
 4. Find out the production of lap former machine in kg/day, when
delivery speed 100 m/min, feed weight 5 ktex, no. of doubling 24,
draft 1.5, efficiency 93%

Solution: feed weight = 5 ktex = 5 gm/m

𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡/𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 = × 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔
delivery material wt/length
5
Or, 1.5 = × 24
lap wt/length

Or, lap wt/length = 80 gm/m

𝑔𝑚 𝑚
𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑡.( )×𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑( )×60×𝐸𝑓𝑓.
𝑚 min
Production/hr =
1000

80×100×60×0.93
=
1000

= 446.4 kg (ans.)

5. Calculate the delivery speed of lap former if production of lap former

is 20000 lb per day with 1150 gr/yd lap and efficiency is 80%

Solution:
20000 Lap weight = 1150 gr/yd
production/hr = lb
24
1150
= 833.33 lb = ×1.0936
15.432

= 378 kg = 81.49 gm/m

𝑔𝑚 𝑚
𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑡.( )×𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑( )×60×𝐸𝑓𝑓.
𝑚 min
Production/hr =
1000

81.49×𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑×60×0.8
Or, 378 =
1000
Or, delivery speed = 96 m/min (ans.)

6. Calculate the production of a lap former having following parameters:

feed sliver hank 0.12 Ne, no. of doubling 24, draft 1.40, delivery speed
90 m/min, efficiency 85%.

Solution:

Feed sliver hank = 0.12 Ne 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡/𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 = × 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔
delivery material wt/length
590.5
= tex 4.92
0.12 Or, 1.40 = × 24
lap wt/length
= 4920.83 tex
Or, lap wt/length = 84.34 gm/m
= 4.92 ktex
= 4.92 gm/m
𝑔𝑚 𝑚
𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑡.( )×𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑( )×60×𝐸𝑓𝑓.
𝑚 min
Production/hr =
1000

84.34×90×60×0.85
=
1000

= 387.133 kg (ans)

7. The speed and diameter of the flutted lap roller of a sliver lap machine
are 70 rpm and 16 inch respectively. If 24 card cans having 0.15 hank
sliver are fed to the machine, what will be the production in one shift at
70% efficiency?(Draft 1.25)

Solution:

Feed sliver hank = 0.15 Ne Delivery Speed = flutted lap roller surface speed
590.5 = πdn
= tex
0.15
= 3.1416×16×70
= 3936.66 tex
= 3518.59 inch/min
= 3.94 ktex 3518.59
= 39.37
= 89.37 m/min
= 3.94 gm/m
 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡/𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 = × 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔
delivery material wt/length

3.94
Or, 1.25 = × 24
lap wt/length

Or, lap wt/length = 75.65 gm/m

𝑔𝑚 𝑚
𝑙𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑡.( )×𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑( )×60×𝐸𝑓𝑓.
𝑚 min
Production/hr =
1000

75.65×89.37×60×0.7
=
1000

= 283.95 kg (ans)