More car troubles / fun with CSMs

Happy New Year!

TDLR - ongoing car issues, skip to the next paragraph!

Well, the car saga continues. Further to my post on the 27th, it appears that the immobiliser we had installed on the car in the first week in December was a bit too good - it was like having a table lamp connected to the car all the time. No wonder the battery went flat - literally immobilising the car for everyone except the recovery company. I've seen the mess the "wiring" was in - badly done AND unsafe - so I'm only surprised our vehicle didn't set itself alight in a gust of wind! Now of course the immobiliser company are accusing the garage of staging the photos... It cost a smidge under £200 to test the car overnight, identify the fault, get the car made electrically safe. I've got more expense next week getting the immobiliser company to fix their bodge job (oh yes, there's also a tracker with a monthly subscription fee that no longer tracks) because I am insisting that it's done at my garage and then the garage does another battery drain test (not free!), because I can't trust the immobiliser company as far as I can throw them. Judging by the photo, even I could have wired it better, and that's after 2 week's apprentice training that I took in 1988. We have been using the garage since before 2009 and they've been going since 1907 (and I'd never even heard of the immobiliser company until November) so I think I know where the truth lies... Sorry for ranting on, but it's been very unsettling - the last thing I needed on top of the SAD - and it thoroughly spoilt our Christmas break, as it was hanging over us from the 23rd onwards. I'd post this in my personal blog, but I haven't posted to that in so long I (a) can't remember the email address I used with it and (b) cannot access it anymore. Ugh. Fingers crossed the car issues will all be resolved by this time next week (no idea if I can get my extra money back alas). 

Anyway, onto more fun things! You may recall I bought this CSM on a whim last summer. Being a bit of an idiot, I went charging in, trying to use the smallest cylinder without even really getting to know the machine first. After a frantic few weekends of it taking up half of the dining table, I did manage to knit myself a pair of bed socks in just plain stocking stitch on the 60 cylinder. Yes, I did knit a pair in the end, though the second sock ended up being finished in another completely different yarn just to get the thing off the machine. I had no joy with the ribber at the time and have destroyed more than ten ribber needles trying to get the circular or slip cast on (as is done in flat bed machine knitting) to work on the CSM. 

Fast forward to this weekend, and I convinced the Cog to have a bit of a clear out. That's one good thing about January - the weather's rubbish and the bank accounts all look a little empty, so one finds things to do around the house. He managed to clear out one box of paperwork junk and I managed to get his "not working from home" desk cleared - it's at the other end of the tiny box room I use as my WFH office. So the Dean and Bean machine is now back up  - the only downside is, if I get quiet at work I might be tempted to knit a sneaky sock in one of the more boring meetings.

I've learned quite a lot this week after just two sessions. 

1. Don't assume because you can use a metal CSM that the same techniques will work on a 3d printed one - they may or may not! That probably goes for any knitting machine, not just a CSM.
2. The slip/circular cast on does NOT work on my CSM - as soon as the ribber needles are disengaged, the ribber dial starts to climb and ribber needles start to rotate 90 degrees in their slots, which is how they get munched (and I'm not even using much force). There is a small line printed on the ribber dial as to when the switch should be moved, but I've given up on it, it does not appear to be functional on my version of this machine. The design may have improved since this one, I don't know. 
3. The ribber dial slots are a little loosey-goosey when compared to my Imperia - this might be down to the possible tolerances available in 3d printing, I do not know.
4. All that being said, the Juana selvedge works very well for ribbing - I knit three quarters of one round of ribbing over EON (Every Other Needle), and then loaded the ribber needles up and picked up the bar. Both rounds were done with the heel weight engaged
5. Trying to use a ravel cord between the cast on bonnet and the waste yarn / main yarn didn't go so well.
6. I pegged the yarns together and the peg is now toast. Whoops! I need to source some smaller weights methinks
7. I used the cast on bonnet and soft weight to get started, but as soon as it's long enough I release the soft weight and use my buckle and weight hanger from my Imperia - it's a lot easier to adjust the weight upwards.
8. Always check your ribber needle position before you start removing main cylinder needles, and expect to do a test run first. My first attempt ended in a needle chomping because the ribber and main needles clashed, even though they initially looked ok. Also, alignment with no knitting in place is one thing, but you do have to allow for the thickness of the knitting. I've tweaked my ribber stop out by one, hopefully that is better. 
9. For heels and toes, the 1 up / 1 up (automatic wrap) decrease is just fine. For decreasing, I found 1 up / 2 down was the most successful. 
10. Because both cylinder and ribber slots are a little looser than on my metal CSM, cranking with no yarn loaded must be done cautiously. If cylinder needles are empty and in hold, cranking should be done with extreme caution - when these needles are fully up, they rotate in their slots and can get jammed in the yarn carrier area.
11. Above all, crank the first bit of the sock slowly and check each stitch meticulously. The machine cannot be cranked as fast as a metal one anyway, being plastic. 

All that being said, so far it's the most successful of all the 3D printed machines I've seen. The reason I'm testing it now is because I'm due to take it to the annual event at Kegworth, and if it doesn't earn its place in my "stable" of equipment, I'm afraid it will be sold. 

Pictures to follow in the next post - himself is moving around upstairs and will be demanding breakfast imminently!

Current mood: bitchy