Felt hairs/shedding

1. Principal factors involved are abrasion from machine parts, chemical damage or fibers torn loose by high pressure showers (hydraulic damage).
— less common causes are high felt tensions or contamination of system by outside sources.
2. If shedding occurs for full life of felt, excessive mechanical or friction wear is the most probable cause.
— check machine system and identify probable source of wear.
3. The weave and make of felt must be checked.
— where fiber shedding is a problem, manufacturer should singe felts.
— any shedding problem should be explained to felt manufacturer so that the design can be changed to offset problem.
4. Use felts that are three to four days old when making critical grades.
— new felts should be run without high-pressure showers for first few hours on machine.
5. Fit vacuum cleaners to full width of paper for extremely critical grades.
6. The commonest first aid measure is to use a shanker rope, tied frame-to-frame just after outside felt roll.
7. Check pressure, angle and nozzle condition of high-pressure showers.
8. Use a vacuum box with a rotating brush before calender stack.
9. Check condition and design of worm roll and determine if needed.
10. Ensure that felt construction is correct for machine, position, etc.