by Fred Hauck

       One of the most effective ways to eliminate problems while knitting is to make sure yarn feeds from a tangle free bobbin to the latch needles with a minimum of friction and snags along the way.  Here are a few hints that may improve the way the yarn supply is set up.
      There is a great temptation to feed yarn from an existing cone or ball when there is no apparent back tension. Any small tug of resistance from the yarn supply quickly magnifies the strain on the needles which must pull yarn off the bobbin and through several guide holes. Test your supply in this manner. Thread up the machine in the normal way. Take the yarn as it exits the yarn carriage and go up through the last hole in the top guide, bypassing contact with the needles. Then pull the yarn down toward the floor with a slow gentle pull. Pull several feet of yarn from the supply and note the amount of pull exerted. Do this with several of the supply cones you plan to use. Make a mental note of the force required to pull yarn through the guides specified.
       Next, place a supply cone near your feet and feed yarn from it down through the last top guide hole, to the yarn carriage, and to the needles set up with knitting. Set tension on "loose". Crank the sock machine forward and knit slowly with one hand while holding back lightly and with slack on the yarn with the other hand. Pull short lengths from the supply so the only back tension is from your hand. This time, note the amount of back tension on the yarn required to stall the machine. You may be surprised to see how little tension it takes to make the crank hard to turn and how easy to turn with slack yarn. If you do this test with the various yarn supply methods you use, you will easily identify which methods give trouble free feeding of yarn.
       The next issue is the resistance to yarn sliding in the yarn guide holes. The entrance and exit on the yarn carriage are most critical. Note that the yarn enters the carriage at a sharp right angle and exits at a sharp right angle. On some carriages the hole was drilled and left with a machining burr. Such was the case with a Home Profit Master Machine fresh out of storage. The ragged hole created extra drag on the yarn at those sharp edges. A significant improvement was made by chamfering the exit hole with a slight radius and adding a plastic bead to the entrance hole. Plastic beads are inexpensive in craft shops. Find one with a smooth hole one eighth inch in diameter. Use adhesive (JB Weld works good here) to bond the bead over the entrance to the carriage and to the entrance of the brake wire hole.
       Simple adjustments in handling the yarn supply and reducing friction in the guides usually results in fewer dropped stitches and allows more attention to be given other aspects of  machine operation. The crank will turn easier and there will be less wear on the machine.