Warp Knitting Machine Types Compared: Tricot, Raschel, Beds

August 29, 2026

Warp knitting machine types come down to two families, tricot and raschel, and that single choice sets your gauge range, your yarn options and your output ceiling. A second and completely independent question, one needle bed or two, decides whether you can make tubular and spacer structures at all.

Most pages that rank for this term stop at naming the categories. Below, each category is translated into the three things a mill actually asks before buying: what can this machine make, at what gauge and width, and how fast.

Three decisions, in the order they should be taken

1. Yarn first. Most tricot machines run continuous filament reliably; raschel accepts a far wider range. Yarn alone often settles the family.
2. Structure second. Open or closed, single face or two faces. This fixes the family and the needle bed count.
3. Configuration last. Gauge, width, guide bar count and speed are a configuration exercise once the first two are settled.

A mill that specifies the machine from a target output figure and discovers afterwards that its yarn will not run cleanly has bought the wrong machine at the right speed.

Two families, one dividing line

The textbook split is by needle type, but the more useful difference is geometry: the two families pull the fabric off the needles in different directions, and everything downstream follows from that.

A tricot machine takes fabric away at roughly a right angle to the needles. Published overviews put the usual configuration at two to four guide bars, working widths reaching 260 inches, and speeds quoted as high as 3,500 courses per minute. It is a machine built for flat, fine-gauge, lightweight cloth.

A raschel machine draws fabric parallel to the needle bar. That steeper knitting angle and lower take-off tension is what lets open structures, lace, net and mesh, hold their holes instead of closing up. Reference figures put common raschel gauges at E24 to E64 with top speeds near 2,000 courses per minute; the finest single-bed raschel machines sit at E40 and run roughly 1,900 to 2,200 rpm for lightweight base cloth and swimwear fabric.

Needle type broadly follows the same split. Raschel machines generally use latch needles, while machines built around bearded or compound needles are usually classed as tricot. Compound-needle raschel machines are common enough now that needle type on its own is no longer a safe way to identify a machine, so ask what the take-off geometry is instead.

Tricot and raschel side by side

A note on guide bar counts, because the published figures disagree: one industry reference caps raschel machines at 32 bars, another gives a range of 4 to 70. Treat bar count as a per-model spec you confirm on the quotation, not as a property of the family.

The same caution applies to speed. Quoted maximums are ceiling figures obtained under the builder own gauge, yarn and pattern conditions. A finer gauge, a heavier pattern or a less forgiving yarn all pull the real running speed below the brochure number, which is why two machines with the same headline rpm can produce very different metres per shift.

If you know the fabric, you already know the machine

This block is meant to be read on its own:

• If your product is flat, light, fine-gauge cloth made from continuous filament, such as linings, apparel tricot or warp-knit base fabric, then a tricot machine with two to four guide bars is the default, and extra bars buy pattern, not output.
• If your product is supposed to have holes in it, meaning lace, netting, mesh or technical grids, then it is a raschel machine, and guide bar count becomes the main line item you negotiate.
• If your product is a tube, a spacer or anything with two faces held apart, then the needle bed count decides before either family does: you need a double needle bar machine.
• If your yarn is spun, heavily textured or otherwise not a clean continuous filament, then yarn tolerance outranks speed, and that also points to raschel.

Where this does not apply: the trade-offs above cover warp knitting only. Stitch-bonding machines, which bond webs rather than knit yarn into cloth, are a separate branch and are not covered by any of the comparisons on this page.

The second axis: one needle bed or two

Single versus double needle bar is not a sub-type of tricot or raschel. It is an independent axis, and it is the one that most often gets missed in a first enquiry.

A single needle bed machine produces a single fabric face. A double needle bar machine knits on two beds at once, which is what makes tubular fabric and spacer structures, two faces held apart by connecting yarn, possible in the first place. No amount of guide bar count on a single-bed machine substitutes for the second bed. Our double needle bar machine guide works through the configuration in more detail.

What the guide bar count actually buys

Guide bars carry the yarn that forms the pattern, and on a raschel machine each pattern repeat typically needs only one yarn per guide bar. More bars therefore means more independent pattern elements, which is why multibar lace machines carry so many.

What the specification sheet does not tell you is the other side of that trade: every additional bar is another set to thread, another set to keep in register, and more time lost on every pattern change. A shop running long batches of one article gets its money back from a high bar count. A shop changing articles weekly pays for those bars twice, once on the invoice and again on every changeover. Decide bar count from your order pattern, not from the widest pattern you might ever want to knit.

Yarn tolerance is the most practical dividing line

Of all the differences between the two families, the one that most often decides a purchase is yarn. Authoritative references are blunt about it: most tricot machines only knit continuous filament reliably, while raschel machines accept a much wider range of yarn types.

That is why the order at the top of this page puts yarn before structure and structure before speed. It is also the cheapest question to answer, because you already know what you buy.

Where the specialised machines fit

Once the family and the bed count are fixed, the rest of the catalogue is mostly specialisation on top of those two decisions. On this site you can see how that plays out: tricot machines for flat fine-gauge cloth, and multibar raschel lace machines for open patterned structures. Our earlier overview of warp knitting machine types covers the same families from the terminology side. Full machine ranges and configurations are listed on grandstarcn.com.

Before you send an enquiry

Whichever family you land on, the same seven items decide the configuration. Have them ready and the specification conversation takes one exchange instead of five:

1. A sample or drawing of the fabric structure, including whether it is open or closed
2. Yarn type and count, and whether it is continuous filament
3. Working width required
4. Gauge
5. Guide bar count, driven by pattern complexity and how often you change articles
6. One needle bed or two
7. Target output, stated as metres per shift rather than rpm

If items 1 and 2 are settled, the family answers itself, and the remaining five are a configuration exercise. Send those seven lines with your enquiry and ask for the speed figure at your gauge and yarn, not the catalogue maximum.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between tricot and raschel warp knitting machines?

Tricot machines draw the fabric away at roughly a right angle to the needles, usually run two to four guide bars, work at fine gauges and are quoted at speeds up to about 3,500 courses per minute. Raschel machines draw the fabric parallel to the needle bar, which keeps tension low enough for open structures such as lace and net; they run coarser gauges, with E24 to E64 common, and top out nearer 2,000 courses per minute.

How many guide bars do I need?

Two to four covers most flat tricot fabric, where additional bars add pattern rather than output. Open and patterned raschel structures need more, and multibar lace machines carry many more again. Published counts for raschel machines vary between sources, from a cap of 32 to a range of 4 to 70, so confirm the count per model. Remember that every extra bar adds threading and changeover time, so match the count to how often you switch articles.

Do I need a double needle bar machine?

Only if the product needs two fabric faces or a hollow section: tubular fabric and spacer structures require two needle beds. If you are making single-face flat or open fabric, a single needle bed machine is the right choice, and no guide bar configuration on a single-bed machine will substitute for the second bed.

Can a tricot machine run spun yarn?

Usually not reliably. Most tricot machines are built to knit continuous filament, while raschel machines accept a much wider range of yarn types. If your yarn is spun or heavily textured, settle the yarn question before you compare speeds, because it will often decide the family for you.

How fast is a warp knitting machine in practice?

Slower than the headline figure. Quoted maximums, such as 3,500 courses per minute for tricot or around 2,000 for raschel, are ceiling values measured under the builder own gauge, yarn and pattern conditions. Finer gauges, heavier patterns and less forgiving yarns all reduce it, so ask for the expected speed at your specific gauge and yarn.