The machine has, shall we say, zero bells or whistles. It was engineered by Scott (an expert in hobby build processes) to be robust to low-quality printing, to use very few tools, to minimize complication (e.g. all of the bolts are the same), and to be modifiable and open-ended. It is probably harder to use than a “real” machine.

It does have one genuinely helpful unique feature: the cams and needles are *much* more visible than in other machines. I think this will make it good for teaching!

Knit files and instructions: https://cmu-devlab.github.io/knitting_machine/

This is absolutely an alpha release and we’d welcome feedback. The documentation notably does not include any “how to knit with this,” but fwiw this machine was highly inspired by the Bond “Ultimate Sweater Machine” (as well as other modular knitting machines on Thingiverse), so tutorials for those should be helpful here too.

These were my first prong settings! (There is a lil epoxy there because I didn’t 100% trust my work but technically they wouldn’t need it.) I uhhh don’t recommend starting learning prongs with irregularly shaped fragile objects.

The structure is a little experimental, with an extra prong in the middle that seats into the air hole at the bottom of each glass piece.

Also I had to solder these at home with a butane kitchen torch. It’s not perfect but I’m proud that it worked at all.