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Using the Silver Reed SK840 Knitting Machine

Overview

The Silver Reed SK840 knitting machine is a 4.5mm standard-gague knitting machine that is intended for use with 3- and 4-ply yarns. The Silver Reed manual is available online here, and we have a paper copy in the workshop (as the online copy is poorly digitised, we will also make a better copy soon). You must be trained by a member of staff before using the machine -- this guide is here for reference and troubleshooting.

A picture of the silver reed knitting machine, showing different accessories laid out beside the needle bed.

The SK840 may be computer-controlled using the DesignaKnit software and SilverLink module, that connects to the knitting carriage. A key to the core machine parts is pictured below:

A diagram that points out the different parts of the Silver Reed machine. Parts include the rail, the carriage (slides along the rail, and contains russel levers, a stitch dial, cam and release leavers), the arm (attached to the carriage, contains a yarn feeder, weaving knobs and weaving yarn holders, and a yarn cutter), and a diagram of a latch needle

Knitted fabric is created by manually sliding the carriage back and forth over the needle bed, which loops a single strand of yarn a row at a time.

Learning Machine Knitting

Machine knitting is detailed and complex, but there are many good tutorials online. While there are details particular to the Silver Reed, a lot of technique can also be learned from general 'knitting machine' tutorials as the core operation of the needles and carriage is very similar.

Resources

Inspiration

electronic textiles

machine knitting for actuation/active textiles

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