ITMA Asia: Karl Mayer makes light work of warp knits
Drag image to move. Click to remove window SHANGHAI - making its debut in China at Karl Mayer’s ITMA Asia + CITME stand is the company’s HKS 2-3 system for the production of warp knitted fabrics.
Equipped with bars made from carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP), the version on display has a working width of 180 ins and a gauge of E32 and is shown producing a stretch tulle fabric at speeds considerably greater than 3,000 min-1 - some 25% faster than the versions using the tried-and-tested magnesium bars.

While explaining the HKS 2-3’s range of features, Oliver Matthews, Division Manager, Warp Knits and Specials told Knitting Trade Journal that as well as being more lightweight and stable, the machines equipped with CFRP are also more resistant to temperature fluctuations. As it is less affected by the ambient climatic conditions, the HKS 2-3 can operate at a high level of precision within an enlarged temperature window of +/- 2° C to +/- 5° C, with no restriction on speed, and there is also no need to adjust the needle tool or reduce the number of revolutions.

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Karl Mayer has had significant success with the HKS 2-3 equipped with CFRP bars in Europe and Japan. The company is now confident that it will be able to expand this machine’s scope into other markets with visitors from all over the world here in Shanghai seeing the machine first-hand.

“The series represents an ideal opportunity for manufacturers of stretch fabrics who want to branch out into producing non-stretch fabrics,” says the company. “The rear guide bar, GB 2, can also process filament yarns, which increases the flexibility of the machine even more in terms of the types of materials and lappings that can be used.”