How to Make 3D printed Wool Fiber Combs

Jared and I recently attended the Toas Wool Festival and I rather enthusiastically purchased five pounds of Gotland Sheep wool from a local New Mexico seller. Once we traveled back home, I spent an entire weekend learning about basic water chemistry and used a combination of water, Calgon (very hard water here in Texas) and Washing Soda to properly scour our wool. I have no intentions on ever selling our own wool, but I wanted to understand all of the pain points in the process of preparing my own hard earned fibers.

Once the wool fiber was dried and looked bright and fluffy, I soon realized that the wool was somewhat a matted mess, and it needed a proper combing to prepare it for spinning. These matted fibers inspired me to design my own set of wool combs. I started creating the design after a computer mouse because it is my favorite piece of ergonomic (designed to work well with the human body) technology, I use daily. I designed the spikes to be removable and slide out of the comb when not in use for safer storing.

The design consists of 2 parts the handle and nail holder.

After designing the parts I used Cura to create layers my 3D printer could understand. Cura is a free program and can downloaded at https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura. 

If you do not have a 3D printer I highly recommend Creality (Ender 3) brand printers. They require somewhat of a learning curve but they are relatively low cost and what I would consider to be a good entry level printer to start printing. 

Printer Link: https://amzn.to/3nP6eVJ

I used to following Printer Settings and Plastic:

- PLA Filament

-200 C Printing temperature 

-60 C Bed Temperature

-20 Percent Infill for Parts 

-10 Percent Support Infill 

The files can be downloaded for free at: https://thesewingrocket.com/collections/fiber-tools/products/free-wool-comb-stl-files

The following Images show the print orientation I used for the slicing program. Both parts took about 8 hours to complete printing.

To assemble the handle first look over the two pieces and remove any support material. If you are new to 3D printing this is material that supports any overhangs and is designed to be removed after printing. 

Next insert the all of the nails in each hole on the side of the nail holder that has small recessed circles for the heads of the nails. 

Next slide the nail holder into the handle. Be mindful that the heads of the nails are settled into the recessed holes before applying to much force. 

And that's it! Go out in the world and process all the wool fiber you can! 

For any future design suggestions or considerations please reach out! We are glad to always continue to learn what the fiber arts community needs. 

Best, 

-Amanda