Dude.

I’ve misplaced my camera, so you won’t get any pictures today (sorry to be a tease), but HOLY SHIT, DOES MY NEW STRAUCH DOUBLEWIDE MOTORIZED DRUM CARDER ROCK!

You heard right. Motorized, baby.

Strauch now offers motorized drum carders, or a motorized upgrade kit if you already have a Finest or 200 (the motor can only be added to chain-drive carders). And when you buy the upgrade kit, you have the option of having Otto do it for free (you only pay for the shipping), which is amazing. You can also DIY (the motor is built into a frame which goes under your machine, vs. the upgrade, where the motor is mounted into the existing frame), but I think that’s kinda nuts when the man himself will do it for free (shipping it to him will probably fall between $25 – $35 UPS if you generate the label online instead of at the UPS store).

The Motorized Finest is $1724.00 (doublewide $2024.00). Motorizing kit for manual Finest or 200 series is $1150.00 (1200.00 for doublewides), which includes labor if you want Otto to do it. It ain’t cheap, but I think it’s as better price than the other small motorized machines out there & it’s a wise investment if you have a fiber business. And of course, Art Club offers layaway…. (I haven’t yet listed them, but email me if you’re interested. I’ll be offering reduced shipping plus 3# of free fiber with the motorized machines and 2# with upgrades. Yes, I’m the Fiber Enabler. What’s it to ya?) He’s also working on a 230V one for you overseas types.

Initially, I was going to play it cool and get the upgrade kit for my Finest, but then I realized I’d need to replace it for Yarn School (we can’t have the liability of students using a motorized carder), so I thought, what the hell!

My carding arm (aka my mousing arm) has been fucked up for the last couple of months (I keep straining it on some new project just when I’ve babied it for weeks) and it is very, very happy about my new purchase. Wheeeeeee!