Brother KH551 is a standard gauge knitting machine with 4-pushbutton-based patterning mechanism. This blog is dedicated to one specific machine I serviced. If you want to know more about the Brother KH551 knitting machine model, refer to my Knitting Machine Encyclopedia article.
The machine (including carriage and all needles) was cleaned and serviced. All levers and the buttons on the carriage were checked and they moved and worked without problems. These levers were also tested while knitting. All needles were also checked while knitting on a full bed. No faulty needles were detected.
The 15 needles on each side (30 total) came from my refurbished stack. Thus, when I was knitting on the full bed, I was inspecting the edges especially closely to make sure all these refurbished needles worked well. Also, because of such a high number of refurbished needles, I am including the set of 5 spare needles (instead of usual 3).
The machine comes with all major assesories.
Several missing minor assesories are:
- A hard copy of the manual is not included but can be found online.
- Sinker plate yarn hangers, left and right. It can honestly be replaced with a regular paper clip (just unbent them to a desired shape). The manual describes their usage on p. 18. manual
- The tool storage box is not included
- Oil is not included also but I recommend Hoppe’s Elite Gun Oil.
Additionally, the small cast-on comb is not all metal – I pulled it out from my own stash.
On the full bed, I knitted stockinet, tuck, slip and hold patterns (see the video of tests – all went well). Butterfly stitch is my favorite on this machine.
Now about flaws and imperfections:
I had to replace the push-buttons but I did not have a part for the button marked #1. So, I replaced it with the button marked as #4 but it is of different shade of white. If you want, you can put a sticker on it with “#1” (I prefer not to put stickers on machines since it damages and stains the vintage plastic).
Despite being vintage, this machine will still serve your craft needs for many years especially if regularly serviced.
Happy Knitting!
