How to Clean a Brother Knitting Machine

Brother knitting machines are used for making clothes and blankets. The machine has a long, flat board of needles that knit yarn together. There are anywhere from 114 to 200 needles on a Brother knitting machine. The more needles that are on the machine, the closer they sit and the thinner the fabric. The board of needles should cleaned in accordance with how often it is used. The simple process of cleaning a Brother knitting machine only takes around 15 minutes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Woolite
• Rag
• Silicon oil
• Paintbrush

1. Mix mild detergent with a bucket of water. Use one cap-full of woolite for every gallon of water. Dip a cloth in the bucket and squeeze out as much water as possible. Wipe down the knitting machine's plastic parts, including the handle and carriage.

2. Lubricate the needle bed--the long row of needles that stitch the yarn together. Apply a silicone oil to the needles with a small paintbrush or cloth.

3. Lubricate the rear needles and front rails. These are the needles that sit on the front of the knitting machine, and the metal rails they sit on.

4. Wipe off any excess oil with a rag. Check for dripping oil, and wipe as much off as possible so that the oil will not ruin the yarn when stitching.

5. Stitch several rows of yarn in order to remove any oils left over from the silicone oil cleaning. Run a few rows of old yarn to prevent ruining your new yarn.

Tips & Warnings

• Only use silicon oil to clean your knitting machine.

Resources

• Silicone Oil

[maryknits513]

on 10/11/2009 WRONG!!! You should use denatured alcohol (available in the paint department) to clean your machines. Woolite has a bleaching agent. And NONsilicon oil. I've had knitting machines for 40 years, and have never used soap and water on them.