AirMax · Glove knitting

Published specifications

Values below come from the maintained catalogue record. The guide review date does not renew an earlier specification: read the dated source notes and confirm a current, matched configuration before comparing products.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Each AirMax carrier runs by itself. The controller decides where every carrier knits and where it parks so the carriers keep clear of each other, and more than one carrier can feed in a single row. That is how Qiangsheng reaches the more complex colourwork it advertises.

To find out whether your design fits, send the colour allocation per carrier together with the pattern file or artwork. Mark the places where colour changes meet shaping, typically at the finger crotches and around the cuff. A demonstration on the offered machine and software, with those changes knitted, answers the question faster than a brochure.

Basic and multicolour structures sit beside tuck, needle selection, jacquard and shaping in the function list. Look over a first piece for floats, stitch formation and shape. Socks, scarves and garment accessories are mentioned too, and each one would need its own sample and a look at the working range. [1]

The upper table on the sheet covers motion and control. The lower one mixes size, power, speed and averages under thin labels. Read the two apart and ask which numbers the supplier will write into the contract. The note on knitting gauge for gloves explains how the three gauges trade fineness against yarn size, and when offers from several builders arrive, compare configurations item by item. [1]

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

The Dahao controller has an LCD touch display with a graphical interface that stores pattern files. Patterns load through a USB port, a connected PC or an Internet link, and the menus switch between Chinese, English, Russian and other languages. The sheet names neither the file format nor the software edition.

Ask the supplier to take your design all the way through: editing, gauge and size settings, carrier assignment, transfer, preview and backup. Write down the firmware and design-software versions at delivery so a later pattern change can be repeated on the same footing.

Upgrades to the software and pattern system are described as free. Find out how long that lasts, which versions qualify, whether upgrades work offline and what licence or hardware costs apply. Linking the machine to your production-management system is a separate question to raise. [1]

The AirMax halts itself on yarn breakage, knots, overload, program errors and other faults. A protective cover with a stop sensor, an emergency stop and a power-off device are fitted.

Ask the technician to show each safeguard working and the approved restart, following the manual. Note how the operator finds the cause, clears it and deals with the half-knitted piece. Keep every guard in place during the run, even if that slows it down.

With dense colourwork, check that the needles and carriers pick up in the right state after a restart, and inspect the knitting just past the stop. Count any piece that needs rework or goes to scrap when you work out output. [1]

Plan the run on your own glove and pattern. A trial run on your own material, measured against limits agreed beforehand, gives a sound base for factory acceptance. Check your electrical supply against the installed power on the quote before the machine is switched on. [1]

1. Set the inputs

   Fix the gauge, yarn count and material, colour map, glove dimensions and file revision, and note any optional tension or storage device.

2. Knit the hard parts

   Run fingers, cuff, shaping and colour changes, then check floats, holes, tight or loose areas and placement against your approved glove.

3. Compare several pieces

   Weigh and measure consecutive gloves by an agreed method, and set tolerances before anyone signs.

4. Break a yarn on purpose

   Use the safe procedure from the manual, restart, inspect the resumed knitting and count any reject.

5. Time a set run

   Log start and end, settings, stops, operator time and good and bad gloves, and say whether finishing is included.

6. Meter the power

   Fix the meter boundary and duration, include auxiliaries, and divide by accepted gloves once both figures are in.

The small carriage and fast reversal are said to lift efficiency by roughly 25% compared with earlier models, with the note that results depend on fabric width. The sheet gives no baseline machine, matching program or outside trial.

The averages of 250, 230 and 190 and the electricity columns lack units and time periods, so they cannot be read as daily pairs or kWh per pair. Request a corrected sheet and a run on your own design.

Edging, dotting and packing happen on other machines that the maker lists separately; add their handling time to your costing, and weigh the AirMax against other glove knitting machines if plain gloves are most of your work. A knitted AirMax glove still needs testing as a finished product before it is sold with any protective claim. Put spare needles, wear parts, training and warranty into the offer as well. [1]