Circular knitting machine repair

Hi new to the forum so please excuse if posted in wrong place.,

I am reasonably competent and have lathe and mill etc, I seek group wisdom on making a replacement ‘ribber’ for a circular knitting machine. The original is an alloy casting, possible up to 100 years old and has rather ‘decomposed’. I hope to attach photos. I think it could be machined from a billet of aluminium but some of the ‘tracks on the bottom are quite complex. I am reasonably competent with simple CAD so wondering if getting it cut by a cnc company might be the best way ahead. All wisdom welcome. The pictures should show it on a 1cm grid.

Jim

Welcome to the forum Jim.

For your pictures to show up you will have to create an album ( click on Albums in the green bar at the top of the page, then create album). Put your pictures in the album you have created and then link to them using the camera icon in the editing box.

Sounds like an interesting project!

Andy

Thanks for the help Andy. I hope this works!

Just a thought is a sock knitting machine ?

Hello Jim,

What CSM is that? Seems like an Autoknitter, but not of UK manufacture! I am guessing it is either a US or Canadian die cast version.

How many needles? Guessing this is about 4 1/2” in diameter and 36 slots (or less) in the ribber?

I’ve had, or got, ribber dials in cast iron, brass, aluminium and pot metal. Pot metal ones need to be stored dry! I would not recommend aluminium - that New Zealand copy of a Beehive machine (basically an autoknitter) made a black gunge when in use and was likely wearing out PDQ.

They don’t look too difficult to make, just as long as the etc includes a rotary table or similar, to index for the slots. Just repetitive machining once the cutters are shaped appropriately.

Let’s hear how you get on as I need to start makiing a few - when I get round to making new cylinders.

You can make them like ribber dials on other machines - they all seem to work as long as they fit. American autoknitters take needles with larger butts than UK machines, btw.

I recently noted a CSM with 3Dprinted parts. I don’t know how long it might last, mind!

I quite fancy using aluminium bronze, but some don’t like machining it. I started a cam shell in Al bronze, for an early AKMC, some time ago, but the project stalled about eight years ago, due to health reasons. Time to find the casting again...

Edited (now I see your pics) : Oh, you mean the cam plate.  Best of luck on that.  Is the rest of the machine still good? Plenty of those come up on epay, from machines where the cam shell and cylinder have expanded and cracked. That part could be OK in Aluminium, I suppose.

Edited By not done it yet on 30/12/2017 17:10:45

Yes. Sock knitting machine.

Yes Auto knitter. 60 slots in the main cylinder and 30in the ribber. Strangly the actual ribber is in the same alloy and in perfect condition. It is only the ‘cam’ that has disintegrated. The school I work at has a small 3d printer so I did wonder about trying the 3d CAD approach as I could at least prove my drawing before getting it machined in something stronger. That said a manual making approach does appeal.

Here are a couple of pics of an early AKMC cam plate.

This is a simpler version, probably just before 1900, without the in-out switch. Removing the drive pin would have been used on these earlier machines to stop the ribbing action.

It does show that the die cast only left that void, on the right of your picture, to save metal.

Yours, with the drive pin adjuster of that form would indicate a later model as the earlier ones had a screw adjuster for timing purposes.