Brother CK 35 is … Go!

It seems like forever that I bought a used ck 35 and had it delivered to etib in summer. After having unpacked it I was dismayed at the state of it and wanted to clean it top to bottom. What a task!

But it´s all worth it when you switch it on and this happens:

Such a long time smelling like rancid grease and being clogged with a mixture of fibredust, grease, metalldust and believe it or not insect habitation leftovers it shines in all its glory (in the eyes of a machine knitter!). The previous owners used it a lot and unfortunately with the wrong yarns (untreated and non industrial). So my advice: Always use industrial yarns or at least parafinate your yarns (there´s a parafin-holder on the yarn mast)!

To show you some of the serious dirt and the extent to which I had to take appart the machine have a look below (pictured is the main bed and my workspace). I cleaned the machine with ethanol and used rags, q-tips and toothbrushes to get into every corner.

a) the insides laid out; b) left belt wheel with sensor

c) right belt wheel, pattern mechanism; d) pattern transfer pins (note: 15 pcs, punchcard: 24)

e) underside of pattern mechanism; f) underside of left belt wheel

g) opening up the machine further; h) more “fluff” (one could probably shape a cat out of that…)

h,i,j) the brain!

k,l,m,n) my workspace in different stage of clean and dirty parts

o) the colour changer in parts; p) the colour changers insides

As you can see most of the parts are consistant with the previous machines and probably interchangeable except for colour changer.

The motor seems to be simplified and does not have a seperate brain as the KE 100. It wont work without the main bed being on and plugged in. The motor seems to have a problem, although it can knit row by row, th left, right light blinks and you have to press the button twice to get it to knit another row. The continuous knitting does not seem to work and there are no trouble shooting manuals out there. The KE 100 differs in build and only seems to offer the replacement of the pcb which the ck 35 motor does not have…

The saga continues!