Calibrating

CALIBRATING 2 BROTHER MACHINES

First, see how many clicks on the tension dial each of your carriages have past 10. (There should only be 2 past 10 and 2 below 0) If the 1st carriage has 2 and the 2nd has 3 or 4, you should adjust the 2nd machine. If one of the machines has more or less clicks than the other you can adjust it. If both machines have the same number of clicks, calibrating the machines will be more difficult [see the last step].
On the carriage that you want to match to, turn the tension dial all the way to the highest notch and then back down to 10 and count the clicks to get there.
On the 2nd carriage, turn the dial all the way up past 10 to the end and then back down the same number of clicks as the 1st carriage.
Now flip off the little white cover in the center of the dial and you will find a little brown disk with a notch over the number and 2 flats sides. Loosen the screw in the middle and turn the disk until the notch lines up with the number 10. Then tighten it down again.
When you put the white cover back on [it will only go on one way] with the | mark on the dial over the 10.
If both carriages have the same number of clicks, there's only one other way to match them and that takes time. Knit a swatch on the 1st machine to use as a "control swatch". Use the same yarn, same antenna tension and knit swatches on the 2nd machine until you find the exact tension that will give you the same gauge as the 1st machine.

Let's assume that you knit the "control swatch" on the 1st machine at tension 7 and it took a tension 8 on the 2nd machine to obtain the same gauge. Set the tension dial on the 2nd machine on "8", flip off the white cover and turn the disk so that you when you put the cover back on the | mark will line up with "7" [the same tension as the 1st machine] instead of "8". Now, when you set the tension to "7" on the 2nd machine, it will still be knitting like the old tension 8, but the dial will say "7", the same as the 1st machine.

Copyright 1997 &COPY Ricki Mundstock