… this article is a constant work in progress as I accumulate more experience (personal) and based on what other people write about their problems and their fixes…
Problems with knitting machines related to carriages often manifest themselves as:
- the carriage moves smoothly on the needle bed from left to right but NOT from right to left (and vice versa)
- carriage gets stuck on the bed
- buttons/levers/knobs/dials on the bed do not move freely or move slowly or do not retract sharply as they supposed to be
- mispatterned stitches or/and not correctly selected needles (read more on this here)
Below are possible reasons and a brief explanation of how to fix them. More detailed explanations on how to fix these problems are available on the Internet.
- Due to the old gunk and dried-up oil, some of the moving levers (responsible for guiding the needles through the intricate passages of the carriage) get stuck. If you suspect a lever does not move, check against the same lever on the mirror side of the carriage: compare its movement, how fast it retracts, etc. SOLUTION: Apply Kroil oil around the lever to remove the old gunk.
- The carriage might have too much old grease and lint to move freely. SOLUTION: Clean the undercarriage with 100% alcohol, ton of Q-tips, and UPS greaseless lubricant.
- Buttons (tuck, part, MC) do not move. SOLUTION: apply Kroil oil around the buttons, let it sit for a couple of hours, and try to move them. Repeat until the button moves again. Do not force the buttons to move too much to avoid damaging them.
- Springs inside the carriage disconnected from their corresponding posts. This might happen because the springs lost their tension/torque but also due to the impact (the machine or the carriage was dropped). SOLUTION: Check for any dangling springs. Compare the springs on the mirror side of the carriage to make sure the springs are attached correctly. Or refer to the manual or pictures on the Internet on how to attach the springs. One of such tutorial (for the MC button retraction) was published by me and also available as a video.
If you think none of these problems/solutions apply to you, it might not be a problem with the carriage. It might be an incorrect position of the carriage on the needle bed, faulty (or incorrectly installed) timing belt, bent needles, incorrect yarn threading through the mast, incorrect tension of the yarn, static, too-thick yarn, or (the culprit of almost all problems with knitting machines) old sponge in the retaining bar.
If you have a Singer/Silver Reed/Studio knitting machine, you might have some specific problems, which are described in another article.
