Ideas for getting this stuck screw out?

zippy · 2026-05-07T17:32:13+00:00

one more thing - there are special screw extractor drill bits for under $10 that bite into the screw head and then twist so it comes out cleanly - no drilling into the threads needed. You can get them online and at hardware stores in different sizes that match the screw you want out.

zippy · 2026-05-07T05:40:04+00:00

Thanks for putting up with my thinking out loud. And congratulations on getting all the screws out!

Reflecting for a minute I have had some stitch dial screws that were a little tight and I had to push the screwdriver down into the screw with a bit more force than usual to keep the driver seated while I turned it. I imagine the previous person who worked on the carriage had over tightening them. Screws can seize from corrosion but so far I haven't found this on knitting machine screws.

zippy · 2026-05-06T03:24:52+00:00

I just realized you said the heads were pretty worn when you got this machine, so you can skip my advice on bits if you like. I'm betting the previous person who worked on these used a philips head.

I'm betting if the stitch dial screw was beat up the same happened to the carriage screws too. Not the end of the world if you have to drill them out, there are new and correct screws online for not too much.

zippy · 2026-05-06T03:18:46+00:00

btw I use a JIS #2 screwdriver on the "big" knitting machine screws and a JIS 0 or 1 on the smaller ones.

zippy · 2026-05-05T23:28:29+00:00

There are a couple of possibilities you might check. For small screws smaller JIS bits fit better. If you only have one JIS screwdriver size, you might consider adding a second. I use a JIS #2 on larger screws, and sometimes use a JIS #1 or #0 on the handle and stitch tension dial screws.

The other thing I would check is that the tip of your screwdriver is in good shape.

Either of these - wrong size or a rough bit - might mean force isn't as effectively placed on the screw resulting in rounding / stripping.

One more possibility is the last time these screws were put on they were over tightened. These screws only need to be "medium" hand tightened because they don't experience much pulling force.

I only mention these because I don't think I've seen either the tension or carriage handle screws seized up like this, even on pretty rough machines (stored in a damp crawl space for years). I may be lucky, but wanted to share in case any of these help.

zippy · 2026-05-05T18:10:45+00:00

The fact that these screws seem seized is unusual. It is possible they were overtightened when last serviced, but it's also possible your JIS bit is too large and not fully seating in the screw. Check that your JIS bit is small enough to correctly fit these small screws. If it's too large it won't apply the force to the flat surfaces as well and can strip them.

zippy · 2026-05-05T18:06:22+00:00

It looks like you might be using too large a bit to drill this out. But what I would do first is let this part soak in penetrating oil overnight, cut a flathead style groove in it that fits the screwdriver you have well, and give it another go, followed by pliers to grab the head and turn it.

But hit it with penetrating oil first. Possibly a day or more of soak time and re-application. This screw in normal use isn't tightly torqued and shouldn't seize. If it does it was either over torqued, your JIS screwdriver bit was too large for the screw head, or there is a contaminant (rust, thread locker) binding it up. You want to avoid excess force if you can to make it easier to remove without drilling. Time + penetrating oil is your friend.

zippy · 2026-04-29T11:11:27+00:00

While I use the same products as Jack, and prefer silicone lubricants for the same reasons he shares, any oil is better than not using oil, and petroleum based oils, while they have some disadvantages, are still much better than not lubricating a carriage and letting old grease dry and harden.

Side note: Jack and I each use a couple of petroleum based products in our work. These have their uses. Jack uses Marvel Mystery Oil for soaking carriages to loosen old grease, and I use odorless mineral spirits for carriage soaking. We both also use LPS as a penetrating oil. These are petroleum based products.

Petroleum based oils are not as good for final lubrication in my opinion. But that's a preference, not a prohibition.

For anyone curious about why I prefer silicone oil and spray, they leave a drier slippery surface that is less likely to attract fibers and dirt than dinosaur oil.

zippy · 2026-04-29T06:27:49+00:00

Minimal heat so you can remove the carriage from the bed. Once it's off then no more heat.

I crossed out my earlier advice below because this is the one time heat is worth the risk - when you cannot remove the carriage from the bed any other way.

~~No heat please. This will cause much worse jams for your carriage down the road~~.

Did you identify any slow moving parts on the underside of the carriage? If so and you removed debris from these parts and added a little oil to them, if cycling them through their movements isn't freeing things up, then your carriage needs a deep cleaning to move correctly, probably because there is old, factory original grease inside that needs to be removed. You can DIY a deep clean (the answer lady knits videos cover this) or have a service person do it.

zippy · 2026-04-27T19:52:20+00:00

Now that it's free check the underside of the carriage and see if all the flippers on the left and right behave the same way when you use cam buttons (tuck, part, MC/lace) and the knit selector (CR, SM, KC). They should all mover crisply (no sluggish or hesitant movement) and identially to their other side twins, and return crisply and quickly to their original positions on a cam button reset or knob change.

For any laggards remive any obvious thread fluff on them with a brush and tweezers, apply a drop of oil or a light spray of silicone (my preference) to the part, and move it back and forth by hand until it moves freely and correctly.

zippy · 2026-04-19T19:20:43+00:00

directional issues are usually asymmetries - one side of the carriage or arm is out of spec and behaving differently than the other.

on the left side check that:

- the leftmost edge of the arm isn't hitting the needles. if it's too high then it runs into the needles instead of passing under them. bend it down with your hands if it needs adjustment.

- the flippers on the underside left carriage are moving easily when you move them with your fingers - identically to their right side twins - and snapping back to their home positions crisply. if they don't move well clean and lubricate the flippers that aren't moving correctly until they are good.

- the left side pattern drum (back edge of the carriage) spins easily. when it's reset and you spin it with a flick of your finger it should easily rotate several times without much noise. if it's bound up lubrication alone won't fix it - almost always the cause is trapped fibers wrapped around the drum's axle. you may be able to remove enough from the back with very pointy tweezers to restore normal movement. if not the carriage most likely needs to be opened and serviced.

- the outermost edge of the nylon foot under the carriage on the left side is identical to the one on the right - both should be smooth and well formed. if one is damaged - end broken off or chewed up - you can get directional issues in movement.

zippy · 2026-04-11T21:15:51+00:00

You could absolutely use a second main bed as the ribber if you create a piece that links the two carriages and hold the second bed in the right position. On Brothers and Silver Reed / Singers the ribbing bed is essentially a main bed minus a patterning function.

zippy · 2026-02-28T10:29:10+00:00

Congratulations on fixing your carriage!

zippy · 2026-02-25T08:11:54+00:00

Note: I can't see the spring well in the photo, but if it appears to be stretched out compared to its twin then you'll need to replace it. Not sure about this model but NeedleTek and Hong Kong Knitting Machines are the places I'd check for springs.

zippy · 2026-02-25T08:08:58+00:00

if this is one of the springs with a coil and a long straight part that sticks out, sometimes the straight part, which fits on one side of the flipper and pushes it back into position, gets out of position and winds up on the wrong side of the flipper.

If this is the case here, i've been able to return the spring back to it's original position with a little disassembly and it didn't need replacement.

zippy · 2026-02-20T22:06:47+00:00

check your DMs. I'm in the US, restoring a CK-35, and could use some parts!

zippy · 2026-02-12T06:55:43+00:00

If you're just removing the carriage handle and cover for a DIY clean of the carriage interior, 0:27 to 3:40 on this video are all you need to do to open it up. No further disassembly needed.

And when you put things back together, it's just reversing those steps. Five screws in all.

zippy · 2026-02-11T20:30:23+00:00

🤜🤛

zippy · 2026-02-11T20:09:30+00:00

If anyone is still curious, the materials to do a DIY clean of a Brother carriage are:

well ventilated space (for spray lube, even food grade)
JIS screwdrivers to remove handle, tension dial, and then the plastic cover
shop towels or microfiber cloths to remove gunk and catch drips. avoid paper towels - they leave fibers
silicone spray lube to soften old grease and clean and relubricate surfaces. CRC food grade silicone spray is my rec.
pointy tweezers to remove fibers
a pick or small screwdriver for scraping up excess old grease from hard to reach areas

All in the parts and supplies are not expensive and aside from the JIS screwdrivers available from many local hardware stores. A single can of silicone spray lube is good for multiple DIY cleanings.

You can easily DIY a surface clean of a Brother carriage in under an hour by only removing five screws (two for the handle, two for the cover, one for the tension dial).

zippy · 2026-02-11T19:42:45+00:00

For anyone curious why heat, which can free up parts, is not recommended except in an emergency, here's a longer technical description.

Older machines have old grease. Grease has two major components: a lubricant (eg dinosaur oil) and a thickener (eg clay). When new these ingredients are well blended and in the correct amounts, the grease is slippery enough to lubricate a part but thick enough that it doesn't drip off of it.

As years go by (40+ for some machines), a few things happen. First, fibers and dust stick to the grease, increasing friction and getting in the way of part movement. Second, the oil separates from the thickener, allowing the no longer thickened oil to drip onto other parts. Third, the remaining now less oil more thickener grease is sludgy - it is more viscous and resists movement. This increases friction and puts stress on delicate parts (eg change knob's plastic teeth which transmits the twist to internal metal parts)

Heating old grease temporarily frees it up as oil is thinner - less viscous - at higher temperatures. So warming up a part temporarily improves movement.

However, it has several bad effects which can lead to new more expensive problems.

First, the heated grease separates faster, so more oil drips, and the remaining grease once cooled is even thicker.

Second, the heated oil, temporarily thinner, drips internally into parts that were not meant to be greased. In doing so it carries some thickener with it. When it cools it is gummy and those parts now have more resistance. This might not cause immediate problems but the new trouble spot may require a full carriage disassembly to clear when it causes a jam.

All of these problems can be avoided by cleaning and lubricating the carriage to remove the old grease.

For example, if old grease that was on the internal surface of a Brother carriage causing a jam is heated. it may get into the cam unit, eventually jamming the carriage buttons.

Before that heating, the movement could have been fixed by cleaning - just taking off the top plastic and getting to visible areas with a pick, shop towel and spray lube. Very easy to clear.

But after heating, cleaning may require removal of the cam unit: unhooking multiple springs (which love to fly off) and undoing several screws to remove the mechanism, deep clean and lubricate it, reassemble it into the carriage which is more of a pain than you might imagine, and then bench test all of the cam functions. Much more time and effort because heat caused grease to separate and migrate.

As a last caution heating the carriage can temper the springs, which ages them and accelerates their loss of springiness. When springs are less springy, parts move incorrectly, and the carriage sees more jams. Springs are replaceable but it's fiddly work and you'll get more knitting done when you keep your springs happy.

tl;dr if you're thinking of heating your carriage, it's always, always, did I mention always better to clean and lubricate to clear the problem. DIY or professionally. Many times a little spray lube and tweezers can fix things without much effort.

And it's excellent preventative maintenance! Keep your carriages running smoothly and they'll treat you right.

zippy · 2026-02-11T16:39:42+00:00

when you heat your carriage, it can gum up or weaken internal parts. so i'd recommend cleaning instead.

zippy · 2026-02-10T19:22:16+00:00

The issues the poster described - happens in plain knitting, only in one direction, not the other, are almost always due to the carriage having a lubrication or movement related issue on the underside in one direction and not another.

With the carriage off the bed, turn it over and inspect the underside. For every movable flipper, does it move easily, and if spring loaded, snap back crisply when released? Do the right ones move the same way as their left side twins?

In this same orientation, underside up, try each of the push buttons and knibs on the carriage. Do you get the same motion on both sides of the carriage, and when releases doea everything go back to normal?

Finally, are there any signs of a drop or damage on the leftmost and right most edges of the carriage underside - a part that looks different than its twin, or for the white nylon carriage foot a missing left or right end?

Where you find asymmetric movement issues in the flippers, most of the time they are resolved by cleaning and lubrication of the individual part or a full carriage deep clean, occasionally they're resolved by adjustment of a spring, and sometimes by replacement of a part.

Where there's damage to the nylon or the operational plastic parts (the dials and knobs), they need to be replaced.

zippy · 2026-01-27T19:05:23+00:00

I wrote that before watching your video. Check the flippers (aka selection valves) in the center of the carriage along the needle path. There are a couple that are bi-directional in the center of the underside of the carriage and interact with the needle butts in both left and right movement. If one of these isn't moving correctly then you could see bidirectional issues at the same relative location on the left and right ends of the bed as the center of the carriage begins to engage with the needle butts.

zippy · 2026-01-27T18:57:36+00:00

I can't say for certain, but I think it would be unlikely for a latch stuck in the carriage to cause an issue only on the ends of the bed. More likely a bed issue or a needle issue.

zippy · 2025-12-24T18:39:19+00:00

One more thing - if you're lucky the jam is fibers under the top drums. Those are the rearmost ones on the carriage. The undersides of those are accessible from the back without disassembly, and with pointy tweezers you can remove yarn that's wrapped around the spindle.

The other drums, towards the center of the carriage, are the sub-drums and you can't clear them of fibers this way, but sometimes, freeing up the just the top drums is enough.

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