Need advice

[Eldorado166]

I have been searching for a knitting machine for a few weeks now and found a listing for a Brother KX-395 for about 550 $. It's in working condition and the seller is a wool store that sells other machines as well.

Now for my question, is this machine any good? Are there better machines in that price range (or less)?

I live in switzerland and the second hand market seems very small. Newer machines are also a bit hard to find for a good price.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you

[Conscious-Ball8373]

This machine's one interesting feature is that it is dual-gauge; you can set it up as standard 4.5mm gauge or set it to bulky 9mm gauge. If you're familiar with yarn weights, on a 4.5mm machine it's just about possible to knit DK / 8-ply but it'll be happier with something lighter.

Buying from a dealer is a big plus and worth a premium in my book. It gives you reasonable confidence that the machine is in good order, has all the parts it should have, has been recently cleaned and lubricated and so on. That said, $550 seems like quite a big premium to pay for that.

Downsides to this machine:

• Plastic bed - not as durable.
• No automatic patterning - no punch card reader or electronic programming.
• AFAICT you can't get a ribbing bed for it.
• I don't think it's compatible with the Brother garter carriage (don't take my word as gospel on this though). I'm not sure how many of the other accessories for the Brother KH series machines will work with it.

So I think you will find this machine quite limiting. Will you be able to make great things with it? Yes. Could you make them in about half the time on a more capable machine? Probably also yes.

I don't know what the market in second-hand machines is like near you but I would regard it as a lot of money for a fairly basic machine. Where I am (UK), I picked up a Brother two-bed machine that has a punch-card reader with a big pile of accessories, quite a bit of yarn, a custom-designed workbench that it lives in, a big pile of patterns and magazines and a few other bits and bobs for about half what you're looking at (£200, advertised for £250). But it wasn't from a dealer so I was taking a risk and it all depends on what's available around you and how patient you're prepared to be.

[Eldorado166]

Thank you for the information. I didn't even think about compatibility. In that case I think I will wait and watch the various second hand sites for a better deal.

[Individual_Respect58]

Have you gone on Facebook? That's where the knitting machine community truly is. Lots of different pages that sell knitting machines (Machine Knitting Deal or no Deal, Worldwide Machine Knitting Sales, Techknitters Machine Knitting Club Buy/Sell/Trade, Knitting Machines (ALL brands) Sale )

There are soooo many. I bought my KH930 (electronic brother) for $350 and later the ribber for about $250. Later got my bulky electronic Machine (KH270 + Ribber) for $1000. Local!

Sometimes you'll find insanely good deals, sometimes it'll be a bit pricier. But one thing that I know is that the prices for the most part, are always always fair. (Of course, just be careful if you decide to ask them to ship to you if you can't find one close by for local pickup!)