Development of Personal Manufacturing.Knitting Printer

Varvara GuljajevaPhD candidate

Estonian Art Academy

Mar Canet SolaCo-author

FAB LABs

● Started in 2005 in the Center for Bits and Atoms, MIT by Neil Gershenfeld

● Today there is a significant and growing number of FAB LABs around the world -> at the beginning of 2011, the international Fab Lab network consisted of over 50 Fab Labs in 16 countries.

-> The real impact of digital communications and computation came in giving ordinary people control over the information in their lives; digital fabrication will likewise give individuals control over their physical world by allowing them to personally program its construction.

Machine list recommendation

Flexible manufacturing equipment within a fab lab can include:

● Laser cutter, plasma cutter, water jet cutter, knife cutter: sheet material cutting

● 3-axis CNC machines: 3 or more axes, computer-controlled subtractive milling or turning machines

● Rapid prototyper: typically a "3D printer" of plastic or plaster parts

● Printed circuit board milling: 2 dimensional, high precision milling to create circuit traces in pre-clad copper boards

● Microprocessor and digital electronics design, assembly, and test stations

Origin

● Digital fabrication tools were originally used for prototyping purpose by the industries. -> NOW the manufacturing machines are used for end-product manufacturing by small-scale producers and one-person-factories.

● These tiny manufacturers kicked off without or very little external funding. The main reason for that is low-cost of machines and open source code and design.

Probably the best known example of the emergence of a personal technology is that of the personal computer (Lipson and KurmanFactory@Home). -> The history of personal computers began in the 1970s (Wikipedia).

Xerox Alto, 1973Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xerox_Alto.jpg

Industrial revolution Personal manufacturing “evolution”

Communication Telegraph, telephone, improved commercial printing technologies

Internet, online shopping, online user communities, search and rank algorithms that enable users to find what they’re looking for in the chaos, online blueprints

Power Steam, coal, electricity Powerful computing technologies bring formerly industrial-scale design and analytical capabilities to the masses

Machine technology

Steam engines, coal burning machines, looms, automated agricultural technologies.Factory-scale machines mass produced standardized objects very quickly

Personal fabrication machines are ready for home use, outside the factory.Cheaper and easier CAD software Hardware and electronic components get smaller and cheaper and more powerful

Distribution Rail ways, improved roads, the postal system

The Internet becomes the distribution infrastructure + local Fabbers

Consumers Emerging consumer markets eagerly purchased lower-cost mass produced items

Today’s consumers want to be unique and express themselves with custom objects

Labor Unskilled labor could assemble objects on an assembly line

Unskilled consumers, like unskilled computer users, can design and operate their own manufacturing machinery

What about knitting and craft in general?

● Knitting is very old craft.

● The origins of knitting go back to 400-500BC

Source: http://maryhanna.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/KnittingOldLady.jpg

Knitting Machines

The 1st stocking frame knitting machineInvented by William Lee in 1589.

Source: http://larkabout.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/the-hosiery-factory/

Circular knitting machine

Hand-powered circular knitting machine of the Chemnitz-Based "Strumpfmaschinenfabrik" (Stocking Machine Factory)for the production of stockings with toes and heels, 1880.

Source: http://www.german-hosiery-museum.de/technik/07rundstrickmaschinen/Bild_rundstrick_02.htm

When did a knitting machine appear at home?

Source: http://www.german-hosiery-museum.de/technik/06flachstrickmaschinen/Bild_flachstrick_06.htm

The first simple hand-powered flat-bed knittingMachines were constructed for home use by thecottage industry in 1890.As well small-size factories were using thesemachines.

MODEL YEAR

KH-500 1955

KH-511 1960

KH-561 1964

KH-581 1966

KH-588 1969

KH-800 1971

KH-810 1973

KH-820 1974

KH-830 1976

KH-840 1978

KH-890 1979

KH-910 1976

KH-930 1980

KH-940 1988

KH-965 1992

KH-970 1996

Electronic knitting machines

Punch-card machines

Non punch-card machines

Brother knitting machines' models

-> although Brother knitting machines have been discontinued, they are still the ones that people have at home!The two most popular knitting machine lines in the market, namely Brother and Silver Reed/Studio

Electronic/computerized knitting machines

- 200stitches can be used for apattern- has about 600 preprogrammedpatterns in internal memory- pattern input waus:

mylar paperINPUT mode (manual)Floppy driveThe PPD110 and PPD120 allows

you to create your own stitchpattern designs or to input stitchpatterns from knitting patterns,magazines or books, using a TV asyour screen, and then to transferyour stitch patterns to your knitting machine. 

Stitch = pixel

=> knitting machine is a 1st personal manufacturing tool at home

Knitting with C64

Source: http://www.mos6502.com/2011/04/

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1DKX1Jq-54

Nintendo Knitting Machine (1987)

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/31/nintendo-almost-made-a-knitting-add-on-for-nes

The ad says:

● “You're looking at the Nintendo Knitting Machine. It's not a game; not a toy; not something a young girl can outgrow in three or six months or even a year. It's a machine that interacts with the powerful Nintendo Entertainment System to actually knit sweaters: and not just one or two patterns but a multitude of different and unique designs. The Nintendo Knitting Machine is just one more example of the innovative thinking that keeps Nintendo on the cutting edge of video technology. And your customers on the edge of their seats. Of course we should probably mention that no other video game system offers anything even remotely similar. But why needle the competition?”

PASSAP E8000 & E6000

Decline of knitting

● In 1980s knitting suddenly became unpopular because of appearance of machines, and cheap and available clothing

● However with the boom of Internet in late 1990s knitting communities appeared again. Internet enabled sharing, learning, and communication.

● Among the first Internet knitting phenomena was the popular KnitList with thousands of members. In 1998, the first online knitting magazine,  KnitNet, began publishing. Blogging later added fuel to the development of an international knitting community.

Thanx Internet!

● Guardian: But despite this decade-long reign over the lifestyle pages, the last 12 months have been particularly good for knitting. Peter Fitzgerald, a retail director at Google UK, says that while online searches for knitting-related terms have grown steadily since 2004, the growth this year has been really noticeable. "Our data shows that searches for knitting have increased over 150% just this year," he says. The term "knitting for beginners" has increased by 250%.

Hacking KH930

The hack of Becky Stern from MAKE magazineFloppy emulation script in Python by by Steve Conklin

Andrew Salomone

Source: http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2011/01/0idpbalacl03.jpg

Physical hack

Inspired by Travis Goodspeed and Fabienne Serriere

SPAMpoetry

Improvements

● PatternUploader developed with the help of Davey Taylor

– http://www.mcanet.info/patternUploader/

– http://wiki.forskningsavd.se/ElectroknitKH940 ● User interface

● Windows/linux/mac support

● Enables to upload patterns via floppy emulation to KH930, KH940, KH950i.

● Bigger-size pattern upload

● Multiple pattern upload

● Multicolor pattern upload (up to 4 colors per row)

Multicolor per row + no floats

Photos by Andrew Salomone

Future Plans

Open Knitter -> KNITbot!

Conclusions

● Knitting machine is the 1st digital personal manufacturing tool at home, which has been totally over looked nowadays in the age of digital fabrication.

● Textile fabrication has a huge tradition and importance in society -> available skills & knowledge.

● Open knitting has a great potential in the growing field of digital fabrication -> cheap, available and recyclable material, growing community of fabbers/innovators/makers, new business opportunities, and more.

● The fabrication and business model is changing (disappearing big-size industries, FAB LABs, startups, factories at home). Hence, knitting and textile manufacturing introduce new possibilities and personalization.

Thank you for listening!Question time

Varvara Guljajevawww.varvarag.info - varvarag@gmail.com

Mar Canet Solawww.mcanet.info - mar.canet@gmail.com