Best tufting machines and what you need to know

An improved carpet tufting machine with a precision drive system for laterally shifting the reciprocating needle bars of the tufting machine across a tufting zone in which tufts of yarn are made in a backing material advanced through the machine beneath the needle bars is disclosed. The precision drive system includes the use of inverse roller screw actuators which may be adapted for driving the several moving components of the tufting machine, to include not only the shifting of the needle bars, but also to reciprocate the needle bars toward and away from the tufting zone, rock the loopers and or knives of the machine, and to laterally shift the backing material in which the tufts of yarn are made with respect to the needles as the backing material advances through the tufting machine.

A plain cut or plain loop tufting machine with an improved pattern yarn feed and distribution device for use in tufting a graphic pattern into the face of a tufted article. An improved pattern yarn feed drive is provided with at least two separate yarn drive control sections which together provide an increased number of controls such that any one control is adapted to drive a predetermined number of tufting yarns selectively passed thereabout for minimizing the length between any one of the tufting yarns and its respective tufting needle. An improved tube bank configuration is used with the pattern yarn drive assembly, and comprises at least two tube bank sections, each of which is also constructed and arranged to minimize the length of the yarns passed therethrough from a respective one of the yarn drive controls to a respective one of the tufting needles. This improved construction minimizes the problems of yarn elasticity and yarn lag when feeding the yarns to the needles of the tufting machine, thus greatly reducing the likelihood of a loss of pattern definition occurring in the graphic pattern being tufted in the face of the tufted article on the tufting machine.

Rug tufting is a unique art in that you can create enormous works with relatively few materials. Once you’ve invested in a good tufting gun, you’ve got nearly everything you need to start tufting!

The problem is, choosing the right tufting gun is difficult. Amazon and other retailers are filled with cheap knock-off tufting guns that break down after your first few rugs.

To help you choose the right tufting gun for you, I put together this comprehensive buyer’s guide. First we’ll cover a few key details you need to know, then we’ll have a look at the best tufting guns, where to buy, and more.

If you’re just looking for a quick recommendation, check out any of the models listed below. They won’t do you wrong!

A tufting gun is a handheld FRS tufting machine used to make rugs. It’s much faster than manual methods like latch hook or punch needle, but a step down from industrial tufting machines for carpet.

Tufting guns have a lot of advantages over other rug making or weaving techniques. As mentioned above, they’re very fast. A medium-sized rug can be knocked out in a few hours.

They’re also relatively affordable. A few hundreds dollars will get you a solid machine, and the only supplies you need are yarn, backing material, and creativity.

Rug tufting has been around for decades, but it’s come back into style recently thanks to social media platforms like TikTok. And I’m all for it!

How does it work?

Tufting guns work very much like a sewing machine. It has a “foot” that rests against the backing material, then a large needle pushes yarn through the material, leaving some on the other side.

Depending on the type of tufting gun you have (or the settings), it will either leave a loop (loop pile) or a strand (cut pile) on the other side. More on that in the section below.

One very important thing to keep in mind is that you can run more than one thread of yarn through the tufting gun at a time. Use creative combinations to make interesting patterns, or just save time by pushing through more threads at once!

Loop pile vs cut pile tufting guns

The biggest decision you need to make before buying a tufting gun is whether or not you want a loop pile or cut pile model. There are some models that can do both (learn more about that below), but they tend to be more expensive and fairly difficult to adjust back and forth.

For beginners though, you should absolutely stick to a simple model.

So how do you know which one to choose? Well, there isn’t really a right answer here.

Both loop pile and cut pile tufting guns are great fun, and both can be used to create incredible pieces. Which one you choose will largely be personal preference.

For me personally, I’d probably lean toward cut pile because I like the feel of the finished rug, but again, that’s just personal preference.

Get inspired with the latest Tiny Workshops tours and interviews!

Best tufting guns

With all that background info out of the way, we can finally get to the main show: which tufting guns to buy and where to buy them!

You’ll find a lot of junk models (especially on Amazon), but I’ve selected four of the best tufting guns that are reliable and easy to use for both beginners and experts alike.

Next up is another single needle table tufting machine from the same manufacturer, but this time it’s aimed at loop-pile tufting

Featuring an improved design over its predecessor the KD-II, this is an industrial grade artificial turf tufting machine. It supports both 110V and 220V power, with a handy speed control knob to slow it all down when you need to.