Turmix Unic on Trial

The Swiss made Turmix Unic knitting machine, purchased from the UK from EBay for very little money and collected had been languishing in the Shed for way too long, and as I now have the manual, (which I may add is essential if you are lucky enough to own this machine), I decided to give it a fresh trial and update. The machine is in wonderful condition and looks as though it has never been used, but I know it has because there are missing needles from the edges, and this is one of the worse points of the Unic, ie the needle springs. If you have to change a needle, this is easy as per the norm in fact, but and it’s a big but, each needle has a tiny spring under and they are so fragile, in fact I damaged three of them trying to insert one into a needle (middle of the bed as luck would have it.) I now realise that this machine has to be tested, cleaned and stored as the more use it has the more chance I am going to run out of these springs and apart from getting hold of a second one for spares, (my usual tactic) the chances of replacing these springs is non existent.
Knitting Machine Collector Hint