Dials for Textile Machinery

On a dial-and-cylinder knitting machine — the rib and interlock machines that knit cuffs, collars, waistbands and double-faced fabrics — a second set of needles works horizontally in the dial, a flat precision plate sitting above the cylinder. The dial's radial slots guide those needles in and out over the cylinder needles, and the timing and accuracy of the two sets together form the rib stitch. Dials are therefore bought, made and replaced as the matched partners of cylinders, to the same standards of precision.

The Dial in Dial-and-Cylinder Knitting

Dial needles slide in slots milled radially into the dial plate, driven by dial cams in the cam plate above. Because rib knitting intermeshes two needle sets, the dial must be machined so its slots align exactly with the cylinder tricks, gauge for gauge. Peverada of Italy produces dials together with cylinders and sinker rings, from 10-inch to 42-inch diameter in any gauge; its dials share the cylinder standard of high precision — they can be fitted in any position, with no 'zero' mark — and long life from induction heat treatment, with all corners rounded, especially above the trick walls of the matching cylinder.

That positional freedom is a practical fitting advantage: the mechanic is not hunting for timing marks when a dial goes back on after cleaning or a needle change.

Dial Wear and Replacement

Dial slots wear bell-mouthed at their working ends, and the symptoms are rib fabric faults — uneven loops, dropped stitches at particular positions, and needle breakage concentrated in the dial set. Cleanliness is the first maintenance: lint packed under the dial plate lifts it and destroys timing, so dials are lifted, cleaned and inspected on a schedule. When replacement is due, dial and cylinder specifications must be ordered together (machine make, model, diameter, gauge), and the new dial is timed to the cylinder before production resumes. The SMC entry below is carried from the machinery listings for this category, covering the cylinder products used elsewhere on textile machinery.

Companies Supplying Dials