Stitch Bonding Machine Width and Gauge: How to Choose Both
Two numbers decide whether a stitch bonding machine fits your product: the working width has to cover the trimmed web you actually run, and the gauge has to match how fine and how dense the stitching sits in that web. Name those two correctly and the rest of the quotation is arithmetic.
Most pages ranking for this search are either process descriptions with no selection advice, or second-hand listings carrying a bare width and a gauge number. This one runs the other way round — from the web you have to bond, to a width, a gauge, and the questions you still have to answer before anyone can quote you.
Why width and gauge carry so much weight
US patent 4,290,278, Machine for producing stitch bonded fabric, describes the mechanism without ornament: yarn layers are brought together and locked into a fabric by stitching threads running through them. The Naehwirken technical centre at TU Dresden’s ITM files the same family of machines under mechanical consolidation of a fibre web.
No adhesive, no thermal bond — the stitch is the bond. If the needle bar is too coarse for the web, or too narrow to cover it, there is no downstream step that quietly repairs the choice. That is the whole reason these two dimensions are settled before anything else on the specification.
Working width: measure the trimmed web, not the roll you were quoted
Our FB line (GS-FB1/FB2) is built in seven working widths — 2000, 2800, 3600, 4400, 4800, 5400 and 6000 mm. The full option list sits on the FB stitch-bonding machine spec sheet.
Work up to a width from three inputs, in this order: the finished width your customer buys, the edge you trim off on both sides, and the width the web gives up between the web former and the stitching zone on your own line. Then take the next size up the list, not the nearest one below it.
Rounding down is the expensive mistake here, because the shortfall does not show up until the web is running and by then the frame is fixed. The second-hand market shows how far apart real installations sit: Exapro lists a Malimo Maliwatt at 3600 mm in GG18, while American Plant & Equipment lists a 1988 Maliwatt (TT-1811) at 2400 mm working width. Both give a width and a gauge and stop there, which is exactly the gap this page exists to fill.
What the width class pulls along with it
Width is not only a frame dimension. On the FB line the main motor rating changes with it, and that number belongs in the conversation with your electrical contractor long before installation week.
| Working width | Main motor power | What it changes on site |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–4400 mm | 13 kW | Lighter supply, shorter needle bar to align and to keep aligned. |
| 4400–6000 mm | 18 kW | Heavier supply and a longer bar; batch weight per doff climbs against the same batch diameter limit. |
Note the overlap: 4400 mm appears in both bands on the spec sheet. On that exact width the rating is a question to settle in writing rather than an assumption to carry into the quotation.
Gauge: what the F number is buying you
The FB line is offered in F7, F12, F14, F16, F18, F20 and F22. A higher F number puts more needles across the same span, so the stitch pitch closes up: finer and lighter webs hold together, and the fabric face gets tighter. A coarser gauge leaves more room per needle, which suits heavier and more open webs and puts less stitching thread into the fabric.
Two cautions worth carrying into a comparison. Gauge is a decision about the web and the finished hand, not a quality ranking — a fine gauge run on a heavy web buys you thread consumption and needle wear, nothing else. And listings mix conventions: the Exapro machine above is quoted as GG18 while our sheet quotes F numbers, so confirm which designation a seller is using before putting two machines side by side.
What gets decided alongside the width
The FB machine runs one or two bars, with an element stack of compound needle bar, closing wire bar, knock-over sinker bar, supporting bar, counter-retaining bar and one or two ground guide bars. Whether you need the second ground guide bar is a pattern question, and it is cheaper to answer before the order than after.
On the feed side there are one or two warp beam positions for sectional use, with a maximum flange diameter of 30 inches. Let-off and fabric take-up are electronically controlled, each driven by a geared motor with a frequency converter, and an electronically controlled yarn stop motion is available as an option.
The standalone batching device is a friction drive with a pressure roller and a maximum batch diameter of 914 mm (36 inches). That ceiling is fixed while your width is not: at 6000 mm the same 914 mm roll is a far heavier lift and a far shorter run between doffs, which is a handling and manning question rather than a machine fault. Machine control, yarn feeding and take-up sit under one integrated computer with a touch screen for production data.
If you are in one of these situations
If your product is one the FB line is built for — stitch-bonded industrial fabric, medical bandage, clothing interlining, curtain fabric — then start from the finished width, add your trim, and take the next width up the option list.
If your finished width lands just under 4400 mm, then settle the 13 kW / 18 kW question before signing, because that width sits on the boundary of both bands.
If you are weighing a second-hand Maliwatt, then the width and gauge logic above still applies, but nothing else on this page does: the 13/18 kW ratings, the 914 mm batch limit and the control package describe our current FB line, not a machine built in 1988.
This section does not apply if your consolidation route is adhesive or thermal. That is a different process, and no gauge choice converts one into the other.
Where each line of the family is covered
The stitch-bonding family is not one machine, and a single overview cannot carry the detail each line needs. Width and gauge selection for the Maliwatt line is worked through on our Maliwatt stitch bonding machine page; the start-up sequence for Malivlies is set out step by step on the Malivlies stitch bonding machine page; the Malimo line has its own page at Malimo stitch bonding machine. Commercial enquiries and spare-part listings sit on our company site at grandstarcn.com.
What to have ready before you ask for a quote
Put these on one sheet: finished width and trim allowance; web weight and composition; stitching thread and the stitch density you are aiming at; the bar options you think you need; one or two warp beam positions; the floor length you can give the machine including batching; and the supply available at the machine position.
With those in hand, a width and a gauge can be named in a single exchange instead of three. Send the sheet through the enquiry form on the FB stitch-bonding machine page and ask specifically which motor rating applies to the width you picked.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I pick the working width for a stitch bonding machine?
Work up from three numbers in order: the finished width your customer buys, the trim you take off both edges, and the width the web gives up between the web former and the stitching zone on your own line. Then take the next size up the option list rather than the nearest one below. On our FB line that list runs 2000, 2800, 3600, 4400, 4800, 5400 and 6000 mm, so a 3 m finished width normally lands on 3600 mm once trim is counted.
Does stitch bonding use glue, or is it all mechanical?
It is mechanical. US patent 4,290,278 describes yarn layers being locked into fabric by stitching threads passing through them, and TU Dresden’s ITM classes the same machines under mechanical consolidation of a fibre web. The stitch is what holds the web together, not an adhesive or a thermal bond.
How do I know which gauge to order?
Gauge follows the fineness of the web and the stitch density you want, not a quality ladder. The FB line is offered in F7, F12, F14, F16, F18, F20 and F22; a higher F number means more needles across the same span and a closer stitch pitch. Check which convention a quotation uses, because second-hand listings often state a GG number instead.
How much power does a stitch bonding machine need?
On our FB line the main motor is rated 13 kW for widths from 2000 to 4400 mm and 18 kW from 4400 to 6000 mm. The 4400 mm width appears in both bands on the spec sheet, so confirm in writing which rating applies if that is the width you choose.
Can I just buy a used Maliwatt instead?
They are in circulation: Exapro lists one at 3600 mm in GG18, and American Plant & Equipment lists a 1988 Maliwatt at 2400 mm working width. The width and gauge reasoning is the same, but verify the gauge convention, the state of the bars and the control package on the actual machine. The ratings and limits quoted for our current FB line do not describe a machine of that vintage.
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