TapRoot Fibre Lab Inc evolved out of TapRoot Farms, leaders in regenerative farming practices. Farmers Patricia Bishop and Josh Oulton planted their first flax crop in 2012. They want to provide clothes and linens to their community along with the vegetables, meat, eggs and fruit they grow.
Searching for equipment was difficult and they were not able to find anything that was intended for small scale mechanized processing. The TapRoot Fibre Lab was created to design and manufacture small scale machines to process long bast fibres. The vision is to go from a retted bast fibre stalk to wet spun yarn.
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Breaking Machine
The breaking machine consists of 5 steel rollers designed to crush and crack retted flax straw to release the fibre from the shive. To ensure optimal processing, the operator can adjust the roller force exerted on the straw, and control the number of times the straw passes through the machine.
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2083 mm
Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 mm
Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2300 mm
Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 kg
Fibre Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600-1200 m
Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 clamps per hour
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Ø 240VAC, 50/60Hz
Rated Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A
Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Call for quote
Scutching Machine
Once the flax is broken, the shive is removed by the scutching machine. Counter rotating steel turbines with 18 edges that scrap and shake out the broken shive, leaving behind the raw fibre. The turbine speed and material transfer system is operator adjustable.
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905 mm
Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194 mm
Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2244 mm
Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 kg
Fibre Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600-1200 mm
Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 clamps per hour
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Ø 240VAC, 50/60Hz
Rated Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5A
Price. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Call for quote
Hackling Machine
The scutched fibre is hackled using two counter rotating belts with 8” hackles fastened inrows. The hackles increase in density, beginning with 0.75 pins per inch (PPI) and ending at 40 PPI. The hackle combs straighten and further clean and separate the fibre bundles to allow for the highest quality thread.
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2756 mm
Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276 mm
Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2451 mm
Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 kg
Fibre Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600-1200 mm
Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 clamps per hour
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Ø 240VAC, 50/60Hz
Rated Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A
Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Call for quote
