Injector needle compatibility: model cross-reference guide for Fomaco, Schröder, Inject Star, Metalquimia and other brands

Injector needle compatibility means that a replacement needle matches the needle head of your machine in length, fitting, head geometry and tube diameter, so that it seats, seals and injects like the part it replaces. We manufacture replacement needles for the most common injector brands, including Fomaco, Schröder, Inject Star and Metalquimia, and we list them under our own codes: FOM, SCH, INJS and METQ.

Maintenance managers rarely have the luxury of a single-brand plant. A pork line may run a Fomaco, the poultry line a Schröder, and a smaller marinating cell an Inject Star or a Günther. Each of those machines takes a needle of a particular length, fitting and head geometry, and each manufacturer numbers its parts in its own way. Most inquiries reach us the same way: a photograph of a worn needle and a question whether we have something that fits. This guide puts in one place the machine series our needles are made for, and how our code prefixes line up with each machine brand and series, so that the conversation can begin with a brand and a model instead of a photograph.

One point before the tables. We design and manufacture our needles to our own designs, and we are not an agent of any of the machine manufacturers named below. What we supply is a replacement needle made to fit the machine, not an original part, and brand names appear here only to identify the injector a needle is built for.

What decides whether a replacement needle fits your injector

Compatibility is a question of geometry and interface, not of brand. Four things have to be right before a part number means anything.

1. Needle length. The needle has to reach the same injection depth as the one it replaces and clear the stripper plate at the top of the stroke. Our codes carry an L number that separates the length variants, for example SCH L352, FOM L305 or MET L700. When the length you need falls between the listed variants, we make it to measure.
2. Fitting to the needle head. Every injector manufacturer uses its own type of needle fitting, and knowing yours is the single most important thing we need if we are to supply a needle that fits the machine. If you tell us nothing else, tell us that.
3. Tube diameter and wall thickness. We work with outer diameters from 1.6 mm up to 6 mm, and with several internal diameters for each outer diameter. The outer diameter has to pass the head and the stripper plate; the internal diameter governs brine flow, not fit.
4. Tip and hole pattern. Round, two-edge, three-edge, thick brine and hypodermic open front tips, and single or multi-hole patterns, have no bearing on whether the needle fits. They shape the product, not the interface, so they remain a free choice within a compatible geometry.

Once those four points match, the needle fits. Everything after that – the steel, the surface finish, the way the tip is made – decides how long it keeps working, and we cover that in what matters in needle steel, forged and welded tips and OEM and aftermarket needles.

Injector needle compatibility table: brand, machine series and our needle range

The table pairs each injector brand with the machine series named on our brand pages, and with the code prefix under which we list the matching needles. Every needle in it is built to our own designs. We are not an agent of any of the companies in the brand column, and what we offer is a replacement, not an original part.

Injector brand	Machine series	Our needle line	Page
Fomaco	FGM	FOM needles	FOM needles
Schröder	IMAX	SCH needles	SCH needles
Inject Star	BI and IS-290-800	INJS needles	INJS needles
Metalquimia	Movistick and Moviplus	METQ needles	METQ needles
Günther	PI	GUN needles	GUN needles
Rühle	PI and IR	RUH needles	RUH needles
Dorit	PSM	DOR needles	DOR needles
Pökomat	P	POK needles	POK needles
CFS / Belam	MI	BEL needles	BEL needles
Garos	GSI	GAR needles	GAR needles
Lutetia	PB, MB and GB	LUT needles	LUT needles
Townsend	IN	TOW needles	TOW needles
Nowicki	MH and MHM	NOW needles	NOW needles
Karpowicz	NK	KARP needles	KARP needles
Inwestpol	AN, ANS and ANR	INW needles	INW needles
CF	VLJ	CF needles	Products page

If your machine is not in the left-hand column, it is still worth asking. The brand pages show the ranges we publish, not the limit of what we make: we produce needles for any type of injector used in the food processing industry, and a code follows once we know the machine and the dimensions.

SCH, INJS and METQ needles for Schröder, Inject Star and Metalquimia injectors

The three brands we are asked about most often follow the same logic.

• Schröder IMAX (SCH needles): SCH L332, SCH L352 including a hypodermic version, and SCH L457. Hole patterns are adjusted to muscle density and to the type of brine.
• Inject Star BI and IS-290-800 (INJS needles): INJS L200, INJS L240, INJS L253, INJS L270 and INJS L271, each listed with the configuration that suits its position in the head.
• Metalquimia Movistick and Moviplus (METQ needles): MET L232, MET L270, MET L355 and MET L700, each available with various hole patterns.

In our codes the L number identifies the model within a brand and the D value gives the tube diameter in millimeters, written the European way with a decimal comma. The L number is our internal designation rather than a dimension you can read off the needle, so measure the length of the needle you use today and quote it alongside the code. Where a code carries two figures, as in FOM L205 D 2/1,6, tell us which of the two is the working diameter in your application and we will confirm it. Quote the code exactly as it is written and nothing in the order is left to guesswork.

What we can change without changing the fit

Two needles can share length, fitting and outer diameter and still behave very differently in the meat. This is the part of the work we find most interesting, because it is where a replacement stops being a copy of a catalog position and starts being matched to the product you actually run.

• Number, diameter and placement of holes. We set the holes close to the tip, so that the brine fills the muscle instead of running back along the tube, and we adjust the pattern for any quantity, from runny brine in thin fillets to thick marinade in bone-in cuts.
• Tip type. Round, two-edge, three-edge, thick brine and hypodermic open front tips within the same code, reinforced tips for bone-in products, and tenderizing knives where the line cuts and injects at once.
• Internal diameter and wall thickness. These two decide the yield you get from a given injection level and the resistance of the needle to mechanical damage, and they can be changed while the outer diameter stays as the head requires.
• Complete needle heads. Where the head itself is the problem rather than the needle, we build custom needle heads for a specific injection system.
• Solutions carried across brands. A design that works well on one manufacturer’s machine often solves the same problem on another. Because we design the needles ourselves, we can move it across, which is something a single-brand catalog cannot do.

None of this carries a design fee and there is no minimum order quantity, so a modified hole pattern can be tried on one batch before it goes into the standard order.

How the needles in the table are built

Whatever code you order, the construction underneath is the same across the range.

• All round tips are forged: the tube is rolled until it takes the shape of the tip, so tip and tube are one piece.
• Silver soldering is used where welding is not possible, for example under the head, where the tube meets it. It strengthens the joint and stops brine from entering an area that cannot be cleaned.
• Internal and external surfaces are electropolished, which reduces bacterial adhesion and keeps the bore free of obstacles for longer.
• O-rings are fitted as standard wherever the design of the needle requires one.
• The steel is high-grade AISI 304-316 stainless steel, often with added titanium or other elements that improve durability, giving the highest possible resistance to mechanical damage.

Frequently asked questions

Are your needles compatible with Fomaco FGM injectors?

Yes. We list FOM needles for Fomaco FGM injectors in single and quadro versions, with round, three-edge or hypodermic open front tips, and outer diameters from 1.6 mm upward. Each code names the length variant (the L number) and, where the diameter is fixed, the D value, so we can match the needle to your head without a sample part.

How do I identify which needle replaces the one I use now?

Send us four things: the machine brand and series, the needle length, the type of fitting your head uses and the tube diameter. We compare them with the range for your brand and come back with a code, or with a drawing for a custom variant if nothing matches exactly. A custom variant carries no additional design fee.

Do you make needles for injector brands that are not in the table?

Yes. The brand pages show what we publish, not the limit of what we make. For a machine that is not listed we prepare a quotation from the head interface and the needle dimensions, with no minimum order quantity. A photograph of the worn needle and of the head helps; a sample helps more.

Are you an authorized supplier for these machine manufacturers?

No, and we would rather say it plainly than leave it unsaid: we are not an agent of any of the companies named here. We supply replacement needles of our own design and manufacture, made to fit the machine. They carry our own codes, and brand names in the tables identify the injector, nothing more.

Can I change the tip type or hole pattern and keep compatibility?

Yes. Fit is set by length, fitting, head geometry and outer diameter. Within a compatible code we offer round, two-edge, three-edge, thick brine and hypodermic open front tips, and we adjust the number, diameter and placement of the holes to the brine and to the product, from runny brine in thin fish fillets to thick marinades in bone-in cuts.

How we can help

We manufacture replacement needles for all types of injectors used in the food processing industry, in high-grade AISI 304-316 stainless steel, often with added titanium or other elements that improve durability, electropolished inside and out, with forged round tips and silver soldering under the head. Browse the ranges by machine brand on our products page, or send the machine type, the needle length, the fitting and the diameter through the contact page and we will come back with a cross-reference and a quotation.