Thread: Plastic bobbin breakage

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has had issues with plastic bobbins breaking. I got a Janome 8900 QCP and have had a handful of issues with it. One of those issues is that in just two month's time, (and very little use) I have had two plastic (Janome) bobbins break. The first one broke cleanly; the end just pop off. The last time it happened, the bobbin looked almost like it shattered. That was one of the new (and supposedly improved) blue Janome bobbins. This is very frustrating, because thread is not cheap and so far, I've not found a way to salvage the thread when it happens. My dealer has specifically said that I must use Janome bobbins, but this is ridiculous. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Additional info: I've been trying to improve my free-motion quilting so I was practicing with that. I also was using the larger (blue-dot) bobbin case – which I finally removed and replaced with the regular one. The bigger bobbin case seemed to cause more problems and did not improve stitch quality in any way.

I have janome bobbins, but also class A prewounds. Both work equally fine in my 8900 and my 12000.

I use paper sided prewounds. I take the paper off one side or both sides depending on the machine I use.

Wow, I have never heard of plastic bobbins breaking in any brand machine. Either you got a bad batch of bobbins (say that fast 3 times) or maybe the bobbin is not seated in the bobbin case correctly allowing the needle to strike it??? And you are sure you are using the correct ones for your machine?

Yes, these were recommended at the class I got to go with the new machine: Janome machine and Janome bobbins. The big selling point was that they are not just "regular plastic," but had some kind of other element that supposedly made them turn easier.

I have a dish full of plastic Janome bobbins from new to back 20+ years.
Experience taught me early on to slow the winder down if loading nylon/invisible thread, because it stretches it could go on so tight as to actually explode the bobbin.

I go through mine about once a year and pitch the ones that look like they've given their lifetime worth of service.
That said, I've had zero problems with bobbin/8900. I don't think I've done any fmq though.

Ohmygosh KalamaQuilts! You may have hit on the problem. Both of the bobbins that broke had the clear thread! I will try filling another with the clear, winding it much slower and we'll see what happens. Wish me luck! ;-)