Archive of Thread: Ribber Sponge Bar Back

4 years ago
Hello All...

I decided to check the sponge bar in my knitting machine, and thought to check the ribber's sponge bar (Brother KR850), only to find a plastic bar (insert), with no sponge.
Would anyone happen to know if the Brother machine ribbers need sponge bars?

4 years ago
I have a Brother KR 850E which works successfully without a sponge in the sponge bar slot. 

4 years ago
My Brother KR850 and 900 both just have the bar, no sponge, which made me think ribbers don't have sponge bars, but I could be wrong

4 years ago
both my 970 and 260 only have a plastic bar ...

4 years ago
Silver Reed/Singer 4.5 and 9.0 both use plastic bars w/o sponge. I read that they had sponge bars at one time, but it was deemed unnecessary.
Some vendors DO offer sponge bars for the ribbers...but I've found the plastic bars work just as well in the ribbers as do sponge bars...and, unless you break the plastic, they don't need replacing (yay).

4 years ago
 My Brother KR 230 ribber has a sponge bar, as does my SP 50 ribber. They are very easy to replace. I like sponge bar.com to buy replacements when I need them.

4 years ago
[QUOTE username=Terri Smith  Terri Smith userid=6385388 postid=1307823300]  I like sponge bar.com to buy replacements when I need them.[/QUOTE]

I second that recommendation!  http://www.spongebar.com

4 years ago
I have a plastic bar for my ribber,and didn't even know you had to remove the paper from the sponge bar on the machine.
I never removed it and it works fine. Is it better to remove it? Please say no!

4 years ago
hmmmm.... if it ain't broke, don't fix it!   
I've heard so  many conflicting thoughts about ribber spongebars.  I doubt if there is anyone left who can give us a straight answer for all machines ... 

4 years ago
I asked Norman Koshak (Helen's husband--Newton's Yarn Country) about sponge bars last week. He said you need to change them if the top fabric-like layer gets so frayed that pieces of the sponge can get pulled into the machine parts. When I have a very flat sponge bar with a good top, I just steam the foam with my steamer and it rejuvenates the foam--learned this from an old time upholstery guy.