KnitRing
Fall 2023
Team member
Interactive Design Project created in INFO 4320 Introduction to Rapid Prototyping and Physical Computing
Created in INFO 4320 with another partner, KnitRing is a user-friendly circular knitting machine that seamlessly merges traditional craftsmanship with automation, enabling precise control over knitting elements and ensuring uniform yarn tension, all orchestrated by an Arduino microcontroller, making circular knitting accessible and creative. It is based on and references upon the design of the open source project Circular Knitic.
01 Inspiration
Largely basing off Circular Knitic's Design, we simplified and refined details to better fit the purpose of the project for our class. Many of the materials and designs that were provided was inaccurate or missing since Circular Knitic was a design that was released almost 10 years ago. After doing thorough research and coming across blogs which attempted to recreate the design, we found that many were unsuccessful due to issues such as not being able to source the needles used in the original design as it as stopped being manufactured and the shells not being able to fit well together after being 3D printed. We decided to keep the overall design of the project while making changes to fulfill the purposes of the automated knitting machine.
Download to see full Initial Design
02
Cardboard Prototyping
A cardboard prototype of the functions the project will include and the overall look of the design
03
Assembly Stage
Starting to put together parts that has been laser cut and 3D printed from 3D models made in Fusion360
04
Testing
We tried different iterations with different placement of bearings, number of screw and wheels, as well as different types of yarn for the smoothest and most reliable rotating movement.
Basic Infrastructure and hand rotation the gear
Close to final prototype with a finer type of yarn
Final Demo for the course at the Ithaca Science Center
Download to see the Arduino file
Slightly rough automated rotation with stepper motor
Manually rotation for the yarn on the machine to weave