Month: September 2023

Brother KR830 ribber serviced and tested in September 2023

BUY HERE AND PAY LESS

Brother KR830 ribber ($525) + shipping ($50) Shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, California and Canada might be extra.5

$575.00

Brother KR830 ribbing attachment fits a lot of Brother knitting machines with standard gauge (4.5 mm distance between the needles). It features 200 needles and is capable of creating purl stitches when hooked up to a knitting mahcine. It does NOT knit on its own. Read more about Brother KR830 ribber in my KM encyclopedia.

Now about this particular ribber.

It was cleaned (brackets, bed, carriage). All needles were removed, cleaned and inspected. Needles that did not pass the inspection tests were replaced with the new stock. Then the ribber was tested. I knitted two 1×1 ribs. Tested using KH840 knitting machine. All the tests are in this Video. First, I knitted on the first set of every-other-needles and then on the second set of every-other-needles to make sure all needles work properly. I also knitted on various yarns: thin wool/acrylic blend, boucle yarn and fuzzy mohair-based blend. The ribber performed really well.

Here is the whole panel I knitted while testing this ribber. It took a while to figure out the correct tension but once I did, I had a blast! Tension and the distance between the main bed and the ribber are actually the most important parameters when knitting with a ribber.

This Brother KR830 ribber comes LITERALLY with all accessories. Compare the assesories shown above against the manual. The spare needles are also from the new stock. I am even including a hard copy of the manual – I had extra!!! Who will be a lucky gal/guy to get all of this treasure??

I followed a nice video on how to adjust the distance between the ribber and the machine to form nice stitches and not to have dropped stitches. To obtain the optimum distance, I had to unscrew the brackets that some Brother KR830 ribbers come with (probably to fit older models of knitting machines).

I strongly encourage you to text me prior to purchasing this ribber from me. I would like to know the knitting machine model number that you are buying this ribber for.

About imperfections:

The connecting arm had some very minor rust spots. I cleaned them (with a soft rush-removal brush) and then covered with two coats layers of special anti-rust coatings to stop the rust and to cover it. Thus, this strange discoloration but it is still smooth to touch and will not affect the functioning of the machine. In fact, all tests in my video were made AFTER I painted the connecting arm and as you can see, there were not problems (like yarn sticking, etc.)

Below is the picture with rust before I cleaned the rust off and covered it with rust-oleum.

Below is the picture after the rust was removed and the exposed (from the rust) metal was painted.

I did not notice any other imperfections. The machine worked great and I highly recommend knitting on your machine with a ribbing attachment: opens so many possibilities.

Brother KH840 cleaned and tested in September 2023

Brother KH840 knitting machine is a knitting machine capable of creating patterns using a punch-card-reading mechanism. The machine has 200 needles, spaced 4.5 mm apart, which makes Brother KH840 a standard machine. Read more about this model in my Knitting Machine Encyclopedia.

Now about this particular Brother KH840 machine. This Brother Knitting machine was cleaned, serviced and tested by me in September 2023.

Removed, inspected and cleaned all needles. The ones that were bent were replaced with the new stock. I replaced sponge in the retaining bar.

The carriage, sinker plate and then punchcard reader were cleaned, serviced and oiled.

I also knitted on the whole bed (using all 200 needles) to make sure all needles form nice and even stitches. I knitted the whole bed using tuck-, slip- and fair isle patterning. See a video I created of these tests. I did not test lace and weave capabilities of this machine. All levers and knobs move freely on lace carriage.

This machine comes with all major …(lace carriage, cast-on combs and extension rails)…

… and minor assesories.

All minor accessories fit into a built-in compartment. All major assesories fit into the case lid when now in use.

A couple of very minor assesories missing are:

  • Bottle with oil (it was too old, and I had to discard it. I recommend using Gun Oil).
  • Wax
  • Cast-on thread (any silky and strong thread will work fine).
  • Hard copy of the manual will not be provided but I can be downloaded online for free from here.

The machine comes with a set of punch cards but they might be slightly different from what is shown in the manual. Please, swatch before knitting for garments and knitted panels.

About imperfections:

Everything works great on this machine. The only minor flaw (with the exception of minor bumps on the case) is the small rust spots on the sinker plate and tension mast. They can be barely seen and when I used this machine to knit a cowl, there was no static and everything worked smoothly.

Overall I did not encounter any problems with this machine (with the exception of couple of minor scratches on the case). I hope you will be a proud owner of it to make a lots of fun and warm garments. Like the one I created (shown below) while testing this machine.