Category: Uncategorized

… this article is a constant work in progress as I collect more information and hands-on experience…

…. Please, read the whole article first before proceeding.

Problems with rust in or on your knitting machine can manifest themselves as stuck levers and knobs, metallic/grinding sound when moving parts, sometimes static and jerky movements of the parts. Rust is sometimes visible and obvious and sometimes not (because it is hidden inside the carriage or needle bed or is at hard-to-get angles/corners of the machine).

Major rust: medium to large size rust spots.

If your hole needle bed is covered with orange rust, your machine it is probably a lost cause. If you hate waste and like projects, you can still attempt to disassemble and polish all parts (with sand paper and metal brushes) and cover the surfaces with oil or even a thin layer of rust-oleum.

If this project fails or you don’t finish it (or get confused how to put it together), you will probably have a lot of spare parts for your other machines or to pass along to the knitting machine community. AND, you’ll learn a lot about internal intricacies of a knitting machine. Still a win-win.

I managed to remove rust from a vintage machine, where the whole needlebed was covered with orange rust but I was lucky enough that there was no corrosion in the needle groves. It did required a lot of notes taking since the available-on-the-market service manuals are of poorly quality and I was almost on my own in disassembling and assembling it back on. But even with note taking, there were confusing parts on how to do certain things but I managed to get this machine to work pretty well.

If you see individual orange rust spots and they are easy-to-get to, first wipe them (vigorously) with the oiled rug and see how much of this rust will simply come off. Often, a lot of comes off and no harsh scrubbing is necessarily.

If you feel that more scrubbing is needed, start with rough plastic brushes and if still lots of rust remain, use fine sand paper and/or metal brushes to reach harder-to-get places.

If the surface you just polished from rust does not come in contact with any other moving parts, feel free to cover the polished surfaces with rust-oleum. I do that if I see rust on lids, underneath the needle bed, on punchcard readers panels (only on surfaces that are supporting the mechanism).

If polished parts do come in touch with other parts, just apply protective oil.

Minor to Medium rust

A lot of machines come to me with some blackish, grayish and even whitish discoloration (often in the form of bunch of very small spot group together), like acne on the needlebed, retaining springs, punchcard mechanism, lids and cases.

This is not the most aggressive form of rust but if left untreated/unnoticed, might still cause issues.

Thus, when the machine came to you needing some TLC, wipe it first with a rug (aggressively but its just a rug – no damage will occur to the metal itself). If the surface feels smooth to your hand, just cover it with oil (Gun oil, UPS oil or other corrosion protection oil friendly to knitting machines). If the surface still feels rough, polish with fine sand paper (if the surface is easy to reach and is flat enough) or a rigid plastic brush to remove additional rust layers. Again, apply a very thin layer of protective oil.

I once had a carriage with white-ish discoloration on its metal part (a very vintage machine). It might have been a vintage form of steel (who knows), but since then I did not see any more the same type of metal damage (aka rust). The carriage needed a bit of TLC and “hand-holding” while knitting and daily oiling. With these preventive measures, it knitted wonderfully. Without them – a lots of static accumulated and lots of grinding noise was coming after several rows of knitting.

The bottom line is:

A lot of ribbers and machines come to my possession with some sort of rust issues. Since the quality of the metal on the parts for the vintage machines is much better than the quality of the metal on the parts for modern machines (Chinese knock-offs/copies), my strong preference still goes to the vintage parts (even with minor rust) than to more modern new/old stock parts. Additionally, it is often simply impossible to find parts on the new market. Also, extensive polishing/rubbing (with the goal to remove rust completely) damages surrounding yet-uncorroded surfaces, making them prone to corrosion. So, if i do not see a lot of issues with the moving levers and knobs as well as with static (or static is manageable), I only gently polish the rust and cover it with protective oil.

…. more coming as I learn more about these mighty machines and their intricacies.

…this post is a constant work in progress (last updated December 2025). But I hope several solutions/problems outlined in here are still useful.

The most important aspect of attaching the ribber to your knitting machine is the distance between the main and the ribber needle beds. An incorrect distance between the ribber and the main bed can manifest itself as:

1. dropped stitches
2. poorly formed stitches
3. grinding noise (which can be heard only when moving the carriage from one side and not the other way)

Thus, spend a decent time learning how to setup the correct distance before attempting to knit. There is a separate article on how to set up Brother ribbers as well as Studio/Silver Reed/Singer ribbers. There are a lot of online resources how to do it as well.

The second most important aspect is to correctly attach the connecting arm. An incorrectly attached connecting arm to the ribber can manifest itself as:

1. grinding noise
2. lots of damaged needles or bent latches
3. poorly formed or dropped stitches
4. ribber carriage comes out of the connecting arm pin during knitting

Some older models do not have such a connecting arm, which makes this step redundant but then the knitter needs to move the two carriages separately, one after another.

There is a separate article on how to attach the connecting arm for Brother as well as Singer/Silver Reed/Studio knitting machines. There are a lot of online (including video) resources as well.

There are several other problems, such as:

• static

… 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…

Last update: January 2026

The working mechanisms of Singer/Silver/Silver Reed/Studio/Empisal Knitmaster/Riccar knitting machines (you can read about them here) are unique and different from the most popular Brother knitting machines (check out their differences here). Thus, sometimes a different approach is needed.

Problems with the knitting machines related to the carriages often manifest themselves as:

• carriage moves smoothly on the needlebed 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, which do not move freely, move slowly, or do not retract sharply, as they are supposed to be
• mispatterned stitches or/and not correctly selected needles

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.

• If your machine has patterning drums and they are not moving freely or are stuck completely, it might be because of the old oil/grease, old lint, and/or some yarn wrapped around the moving parts. SOLUTION: visually inspect the drums on the sides and remove any visible junk. Apply Kroil Oil first to the drums and see if they start moving freely. I typically try to rotate the drums every 2-4 hours after applying (generously) the Kroil oil around them.
• 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, a ton of Q-tips, and UPS greaseless lubricant.
• 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 both sides 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 tutorials (but for the Brother knitting machine) was published by me and is 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, 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) an old sponge in the retaining bar.

If your carriage works ok and moves smoothly but the mechanism is mispatterning, it could be related to:

• misaligned punchcard reader. I had a machine where the punchcard reader was slightly off-center: the left side was a bit closer to the needlebed than the right side. As a result, the patterning drum did not touch the pins on the reader strongly enough to engage the pegs. Watch the video on how to troubleshoot it and fix it.

If you have a Brother machine, you might have some specific problems, which are described in another article.

… 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.

Brother KR810 ribber fits a wide variety of Brother knitting machines, from some of the vintage ones to the later models, all the way to the electronic ones.

This article is about specifically the KR810 ribber refurbished in December 2023. To learn more about pros and cons of the Brother KR810 ribber model, refer to the article in my Knitting Machine Encyclopedia.

The machine was thoroughly cleaned. All needles were cleaned and inspected individually, first visually and then by knitting on a full bed 1×1 ribbing (in two different combinations to make sure all needles were tested). All knitting tests were great. See a video of these tests on my channel.

The setup (consisting of main carriage, connecting arm and a ribber carriage) moved well and i was able to knit with just moving the carriages with one hand.

The machine knitted wonderfully thin yarns, sock-yarn-weight acrylic yarn and fingering mohair-containing slightly fuzzy yarn.

This machine will come with all assesories mentioned in the manual. However, the reinforcing brackets will not be included for the following reasons.

The original side brackets (that attach to the ends of the ribber) did not come with this machine. So, I borrowed from a KR850 ribber and they fit wonderfully.

Because the KR850 side brackets already have the “tongue” needed to attach the ribber to the table, the original KR810 brackets are no longer needed.

With this setup, the KR810 ribber attached wonderfully to both KH710 and KH970. However, I was able to knit only on the machine with a winder bed (KH970) than with the narrower bed (KH710). A potential reason is a slightly off angle between the machine and a ribber due to the different side brackets and table clamps. Thus, this ribber is sold as compatible with wider-needle-bed knitting machines (such as punch-card-capable machines (KH820 and above) as well as electronic machines (KH900 and above)).

I know some internet sources mention that this ribber is compatible with the push-button machines like KH552, KH710 and early punch-card machine, like KH800. But because I did not have the original side brackets, I could not confirm that this ribber can knit with these earlier knitting machines.

All buttons, dials, knobs and levers on the ribber carriage move freely.

Hard copy of the manual will NOT be included with the ribber but it can be found online for free.

The connecting arm has some rust specs all over it. I gently removed the protruding layer and applied oil for corrosion protection. But the corrosion damage is still visible. However, my tests showed that it does not affect the functioning of the ribber.

The brushes in the under-carriage section are in excellent shape.

Watch my video showing knitting on the double bed, containing this ribber and my wide-needle bed knitting machine. It worked great and the big advantage of this ribber is versatility and compatibility with large varieties of knitting machines.

…in progress…

This blog article is for Brother knitting machines (KH521, KH531 and KH551) that have a needle selection mechanism with four push buttons.

When I needed to replace the push-buttons in the Brother KH551 knitting machine, I could not find any information on how to do it. I could also not find a service manual for 4-push button knitting machines.

Thus, I had to figure out on the go how to do it and I successfully did it already three times. Since I do not do it all that often, out of fear of forgetting certain details, I documented the whole process and outlined it here and also in a video.

I started with removing the side screws to separate the needle bed from the case.

Removed these screws …

… and these too (from the table bracket holders) …

… and then separated the needle bed from the case.

The cover for the button mechanism can be easily removed: there is one screw on the right-hand side, kinda underneath …

…and one in the middle of the cover, easily seen from the back.

Flip the bed and remove the button-rod mechanism by unscrewing all screws on the back. The two screws marked below hold the whole mechanism together while all others simply attach the mechanism to the needle bed.

After these scores are removed, collect the following parts: 4 rods with torsion springs, four buttons and four tension springs.

Next steps are reinserting the pushbuttons back into the patterning assembly.

First, insert the tension spring into the pushbutton and then inside the holding plate.

There is an opening on the flat portion of the button that needs to go through the vertical panel of the holding plate. Insert the rod into that hole.

Repeat with the rest of the buttons.

The small holding plate has narrow and wider grooves on the opposite sides.

Wider grooves go on top of the rods next to the elbows an narrow grooves go onto the ends of the rods. Press the plate firmly, flip (while holding firmly) and attach the screws.

Once these two most critical screws are in, we can stop holding them firmly.

We now flip the assembly again to adjust the positions of the torsion springs.

While holding (very tight) the straight end of the spring with one screwdriver, we stretch the torsion spring on the curled-end side and hook the spring on the rod. It might take you several attempts because it is hard and awkward to do. Don’t get discouraged. Repeat for the remainder of the rods/springs.

Once the pushbutton assembly is finished, we’ll need to put it back into the bed.

Just follow the first steps in the reverse order. If confused – watch my video again. Or follow the outlined steps below.

Insert the plate with buttons into the bed at an angle, …

…attach to the hook …

and insert the remaining screws (on the back) into the push-button assembly. Watch for the screw marked in red below. This should not be too tight otherwise the mechanism that governs the selecting strips might not move as freely. If you experience it, loosen up that screw.

Before inserting the needle bed into the case, check if your buttons move freely.

Then reattach the cover.

Insert the needle bed into the case, and reattach the screws on the needle bedside.

Now you can test if your button selection mechanism works by inserting 8 or so needles and activating the pushed-in buttons by the ratchet tool.

Good luck and hope this was useful.

Brother KR850 ribbing attachment converts a standard (4.5 mm gauge) flat bed knitting machines made by Brother into a double bed capable of rib and more advanced patterning. It has 200 needles and is compatible with all punchcard and electronic standard-gauge knitting machines. It does not knit on its own – it needs a knitting machine.

Read more about this model in my Knitting Machine encyclopedia.

This particular ribber was tested and serviced by me on Brother KH860 knitting machine.

All needles were inspected and cleaned. All needles were also tested during knitting a 1×1 rib on two different needle configuration (to ensure that I knitted on all needles). See the test video for details and to understand what I mean more.

The bed and the carriage were cleaned as well.

This ribber comes with ALL assesories including hard copy of the manual.

It will also comes in its original box, which is in pretty decent shape.

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. Actually, I found very easy to setup Brother KR850 unlike its other older counterparts (like KR830)

Knitting with a ribber requires an operator to pay attention to the edges: to add enough weight, make sure the yarn does not get stuck on pegs, etc. So, it is recommended not to knit on the very last 2-4 needles to ensure nice edges. I was able to achieve that during my tests.

The long panel knitted during these tests was converted to this hat.

About flaws:

The machine itself does not have any flaws. The cast-on combs, however, have slightly bent tees at the ends and the wire as 3-teeth short. I looked in my collection for another cast-on comb. It turned out that they are almost all like this. Probably damaged during storage and/or transport. Inserting the wire into the groves/holes was not a problem but to remove the wire at the end of your work, you might need plyers. The little hook at the end of the wire broke off. Again, all wires I looked in my supplies that are long enough had the loop broken or missing.

No other imperfections were noticed. The machine works great and is highly recommended.

Brother KR850 ribbers as well as matching machines are regularly available in my store for purchase.

Brother KH860 is a knitting machine capable of creating patterns using punchcards. Read about pros and cons of this model in my Knitting Machine Encyclopedia. But in the mean time, read below about this particular machine.

This machine was cleaned and fully serviced. The sponge in the retaining bar was replaced. All needles were inspected and cleaned. The needles were also tested by knitting on a full bed (see the video).

This machine will be sold with ALL assesories. All looked brand new (even wax and oil). Even its own hard copy of the manual will be included although it can also be found online for free.

The row counter included with this machine is brand new (new stock).

The machine was tested using the same punchcard for tuck-, slip- and fair isle patterning on a full bed and all tests were great: no missed stitches, not tucked stitches where they are not supposed to be (tuck stitches often form due to bad needle latches).

The picture below shows the fair-isle pattern upclose knitted using a custom card.

This knitted fabric was then converted into this beautiful Christmas present bag.

Now about imperfections:

There is slight discoloration on the carriage handle – probably the motor was attached to the machine at some point. The plastic around the connection point has slight UV damage but is NOT damaged where the handle was attached to the motor head.

There is a little bit of delamination on the top plastic layer on the carriage. Also, the corner of the name plate is a bit chipped.

A plastic section of the rail guard/slider on the left-hand side of the carriage broke off. All my tests were performed without it. I did not experience any problems knitting. I still have the piece and it will be included with the machine but it will not be glued on.

If knitting on a full bed with the patterning option engaged (for tuck, slip and fair isle), the carriage needs to be pushed a bit down on the very edges otherwise the sinker plate touches the needles a bit. Maybe the bed is a bit warped on both ends. When knitting in the middle of the bed (when the panel is not knitted on all 200 needles), I did not need to push the carriage down a bit. Only when I knitted on all 200 needles in tuck stitch. As you will see in my video, it did not affect the knitting: I was able to knit without trouble and without too much effort. It is just something the operator needs to be aware of. All knitting machines have their own character and this is simply one of those character features.

Despite these minor flaws, the machine knitted and worked great. Other punch-card Brother knitting machines are available in my store.

Brother KH890 knitting machine is one of the latest knitting machine models with punchcard-based patterning capabilities that Brother made. More will be coming soon in my Knitting Machine Encyclopedia on this model.

In the meantime, about this particular KH890 machine.

It was tested on tuck-, slip-. stockinet and fair isle patterning on full bed to ensure all needles function properly and do not have any faulty latches. All tests are shown in my video. All went great without ANY hiccups, which made me very happy!

It comes with all major assesories, including cast-on comb, lace carriage, tension mast and a row counter. Hard copy of the  manual will not be included but can be purchased downloaded for free.

The cast-on comb is of a later model, where it consists of two parts – small and a larger one and they connect together by a metal clip to fit the full bed.

I put together a set of most minor assesories, including a brand new 20-card punchcard set. The claw weights are also brand new (from new stock). So is the row counter (this is why the color is different).

All these minor assesories fit into a built-in box with a lid.

The minor assesories that are missing are:

• wax – it was too old and I threw it away
• crochet needle – any will work. It is not even needed for machine knitting – just sometimes for the work on the knitted panel
• tapestry needle – any needle will work
• oil – it was old and I discarded it. I use Hoppe’s Elite Gun Oil for all my knitting machine needs
• Cast-on thread is not included but any strong and silky yarn/thread will work the same

Now about some minor flaws:

• The lid and the case are in pretty good shapes but might have minor scuffs and scratches.
• The plastic layer delaminated slightly on the carriage. It is mostly visible around the bottom right-hand corner where the brand name is

• There is a slight crack on the carriage handle

• There is a discoloration on the handle. It is very likely that this machine was attached to the motor for a long time. The plastic around the mount to the motor got UV damage and under the mount did not. Thus, different shades of plastic.

• There is a small crack on the yarn feeder lever

None of these minor flaws prevented the machine from knitting. This machine is sold out but other are available in my store.

Brother KR830 ribbing attachment fits a lot of Brother knitting machines with standard gauges (4.5 mm distance between the needles). It features 200 needles and is capable of creating purl stitches when hooked up to a knitting machine. 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.