Thread: Help, my machine is sick!

Hi. I have a brother cs6000i and lately (about a month) it has not been grabbing the fabric when I first put it in and then if I start in the middle it will start and kind of get 'stuck' leaving a clump of thread underneath then it will move along as long as I pull the piece along a little bit, but still occasionally getting 'stuck' and I have to pull the piece along to get it moving again. I have cleaned the lint (you should have seen the stuff that was piled up in there), replaced the bobbin and upper thread, tried a different presser foot, and raised and lowered the feed dogs several times to make sure that was working. I don't want to have to take it to the doctor because the nearest place is 40 miles away and I only paid $140 for the machine 5 years ago through Amazon. What else can I do?

I don't know if you have a little screw that fastens the feed dogs in but when my old singer feed dogs stopped advancing the fabric, I cut a little card stick gasket to go under the feed dogs and then put the screw back in. The feed dogs were a bit worn and putting them up a bit helped them to grab the fabric better.

Why are we more willing to spend maintenance money on a machine that we spent a lot on and so reluctant to do so for a machine that we did not pay much for?

Originally Posted by bearisgray

Why are we more willing to spend maintenance money on a machine that we spent a lot on and so reluctant to do so for a machine that we did not pay much for?

Maybe because, after 2 maintenance visits, you could buy a NEW cheap machine!

You still have to maintain the NEW cheap machine. I didn't feel like sewing the other day but wanted to clean to minimalize so I cleaned my machines. One of the tools I always have on hand is a small round mirror with a telescopic handle and on the other end is a magnet. This helps find stray lint. If I can't reach it with a sewing machine brush, I use a pipe cleaner a.k.a. chenille wire. One thing I love about my 401 in the desk cabinet is I can put it away into the cabinet and set my other machine on top and use it for piecing. Just takes couple minutes to change.

Originally Posted by krafty14

Maybe because, after 2 maintenance visits, you could buy a NEW cheap machine!

I have the same machine as you and was having the same issue. I cleaned everything several times and it still ate the fabric like it was starving. I had called to see what the cost would be on taking it in for maintenance and they wanted $90.00 for a $140 machine.

I realized I had been using alot of starch in the project I had been working on and wondered if it had built up on the feed dogs. I cleaned them with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol and that took care of the problem for me.