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How Roz Broke Her Garter Carriage and Other Tips http://www.pineymountaincottage.com/

1. Plug the curly cord top into your antenna on the right side (you'll see a place for it right under the wax thing)
2. Make absolutely sure the metal tip of that cord (the part that plugs into the GC) doesn't touch the metal bed of the machine. If it does, open the gray box and replace the fuse (you can buy a new fuse at Radio Shack). Whenever I didn't have it plugged in I put a rubber eraser on it to protect it. Some curl the cord around the tip so it is encased in the curly cord.
3. It's easiest to put the GC on the machine if you have the rails on. It won't fall off with the rails off even if you have programmed all 200 needles to knit but it makes people feel safer to have the rails on. Actually on the 965 and 965i, Brother told us that the GC might miss-pattern with the rails on. If your GC miss-patterns, take the rails off and see if that helps.http://www.pineymountaincottage.com/
4. To put the GC on the machine, put it on the right rail outside the needle bed. Hold down the bottom part of the GC with your left hand and hold up the top part with your right hand. Holding the bottom part down, slide the GC onto the machine keeping it outside the turn marks. Program your machine to cast on or knit pattern and then (again holding the bottom down and top up) slide the GC up to the first needle on the left in work. Just set it down beside that first in work needle. The GC can't knit if the needles are out past B position.
5. Be sure your yarn is UNDER the metal sensor. The GC can't knit if the sensor is touching the metal thing that is in the back of the sensor housing. (The sensor is there to stop the GC when you run out of yarn if you should be in the next room or gone for the day).
6. People think that the G Cams make the GC turn around but actually, a needles in A position, sitting next to a needle in B position is what makes the GC turn around. The cams only make the last stitch knit so that you'll have a nicer edge to sew up. You can get 1-stitch cams, 2-stitch cams or 3-stitch cams. If you put more than 1 3- stitch cam side by side, you can have up to 6 or 9 stitches all knit together to turn for cables.
7. To cast on, put all the buttons all the way to the right. Push down the MEMO or INPUT button on your machine and cast on. The GC will only e-wrap cast on from right to left. It won't stop after it casts on, it will keep on going so just turn it off by touching the red off button when it gets to the end of the needles. After it casts on, take it all the way to the left and program your machine for a pattern. The GC can read any pattern, it reads black as knit and white as purl.
8. Once you've cast on and taken the GC outside the left turn mark, program in your pattern (rib or whatever) and hold down the bottom, up the top and make sure the yarn doesn't get wound around the GC wheels as you bring it back to the right to your needles in B position.
9. Put the top buttons all the way to the left. The bottom button stays on the right, it will flip to the left when the GC gets to the end of the needles in B and then it will all turn around.
10. The GC's needles are naturally a little crooked on the hook end don't try to straighten them.
11. The GC for the 930, 940, 965 and 965i has 2 magnets on the back. The magnets are divided in 2 by black and
white. The white needs to be toward the center so when you look at the back of the GC, the 2 white sections are
facing each other and facing center. The 970's garter carriage doesn't use magnets, it has a plastic bar that fits in
the magnet holes and runs all the way across the GC. When you take the magnets out, save them in the
accessory box, you never know when you'll want them again.
12. If your brushes are a little worn and frayed, cut them to make them all nice and even but replace them if they're too bad.
13. The GC power cord: If you have a 930 or 940 KM, use the GC power cord in place of your regular power cord--but fold your regular power cord and put a tag on it that it goes with the machine, store with your tools, too many people lose them and then can't ever find them again when they sell their machines. The 965, 965i and 970 machines DO NOT use the GC power cord as the main machine power supply. The GC power cord plugs in separately from the machine.
14. When you short row using the garter carriage, the manual tells you to knit short rowed stitches back to A position with waste yarn (same thing you do with the lace carriage). As the GC knits along, the stitches in A position could start moving back into B position. Suddenly you have a short rowed stitch knitting again. The safest thing to do is to take the short rowed stitches off on waste yarn, even if it means a few at a time.
15. If your GC clunks as it goes across, usually in the same spot every time, check the gate pegs, if one is crooked the GC will clunk over it. Bend it straight carefully.
16. The GC work the sponge bars hard, and you really need to keep an extra around.
17. Use thread lace patterns with the GC, they turn out looking fabulous!
18. Read any pattern you can with garter carriage. There are always tips to be learned even if you don't use the patterns.
19. Always keep all needles in the bed for the GC. If you rob the needle bed of the end needle, the GC won't go across, it will keep reversing itself.
20. Never! Take the sponge bar out with the garter carriage on the needle bed! The garter carriage will become stuck to the bed with no way to move it off, or lift it. One solution, if you do end up like this, is to slip something slim and long into the front rail slot. The channel that the garter carriage uses to sit on the rail. This area is directly over the needles, and you can slide in the tool and press down the needles to advance the sponge bar into the machine.
21. If the row counter doesn't work well anymore, open up the cover, remove the counter, and clean
it. You can use lamp oil, knitting machine oil, and then slightly lubricated it with grease.