A circular knitting machine is widely used throughout the knitting industry to produce the fabric. This machine can be used either as fabric or for making garments completely with fancy stitches. Normally latch needle is used in a modern circular knitting machine. Maintenance is necessary to get better working efficiency. This post maintenance process of a circular knitting machine is given below.
Maintenance Sequence of Circular Knitting Machine:
Power on/off
↓
MPF/Positive feeder current line off
↓
MPF belt out/loss
↓
Yarn cut
↓
Fabric out by the handle
↓
Cleaning and Oiling
↓
Cam box out
↓
Needle & sinker out
↓
Needle & sinker cleaning by oil
↓
Cam box cleaning by air
After opening & cleaning, m/c is leveled by using a leveling meter and follows the reverse process to ready the m/c.
In this machine, yarn count basically dependent on the needle pitch. As the diameter of yarn is proportional to its yarn count in the direct system, a relationship exists between the range of optimum counts of yarn that could be knitted on a particular machine and the gauge of the machine. Machine gauge could play an influential role in the choice of yarn count and can have an effect on fabric properties. Thus it’s essential to obtain an optimal balance of yarn count and machine gauge in order to ensure the best knitting performance for a specific machine gauge and structure, with a high machine efficiency and minimum fabric fault rate.
Circular knitting machines always produces a tube-shaped fabric. It exists in different sizes or diameters, though it’s depending on the field of application. The needles & sinkers in the machine are arranged in a circle.
Circular Knitting Machines may divide into two different types. Depending on the number of sets of needles:
- Single set: plain.
- Two sets: rib, interlock, spacer fabric.
Both single set and double set machines have also existed as Jacquard machines. Those needed for special designs. In these machines, the movement of each needle could control by each cam. Common products that might produce with circular knitted fabric are T-shirts. For production, nearly every material could use. The form varies from filament to staple fiber yarn.
Author of this Article: Raju Tex Knitting Technologist, B. J. Group Chittagong Textile Engineering College Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ERZRAZU