A friend of mine has this machine and it won't advance the material. Just sews in place as if it's set on zero stitch. We've removed the face plate and cleaned out all the lint. The feed dogs appear to be working ok. We've re-threaded, checked tension, etc. Nothing. Any suggestions? It hasn't been used in approx 15 years.

Take it apart again and see if the bobbin area is moving at all ? it maybe that the bobbin area is frozen ? You can see if it is moving by turning the wheel by hand . Also that way you can see if the feed dogs are moving ?

bobbin is moving freely, feed dogs moving freely when i press the reverse button you can see the fabric move as if to start going back - but nothing. just stitches in one place. you can pull the material thru and it makes very teeny, tiny stitches. that's why i think something to do with the stitch selector is broken.

And adjusting the stitch width hasn't helped ? what about trying a different stitch- maybe a zig zag just to see what happens ?

did it - nothing - turned the dial to every stitch to see if perhaps it was frozen. it actually did the blind hem stitch but just over & over in same place.

you took off the face plate and cleaned - did you take the bobbin area all apart and clean that out really good ? Use a qtip to reach back in to the hard spots ?

I am looking for that model on the internet and unable to find it can find the 2125 and on that one the stitch length is determined by the stitch you pick - does yours have 2 knobs one for the stitch and one for the length ?

this is the one I can find - does yours look like this ?

http://www.brother-usa.com/HomeSewin...ductID=LS2125i

no - it has a knob on the side underneath the wheel that you can select the type of stitch with and a dial on the front for stitch length from 0 to 4 or 5 - don't remember which - it's not my machine.

i will try to remove the bobbin race & clean in there.

Are the feed dogs up all of the way? :D:D:D

Are you absolutely sure the right kind of needle and the right kind of bobbin are in the machine? Especially with plastic bobbins, it is very easy to put one in that "looks" correct but is for a different machine. Also, are you sure that the thread is coming off the bobbin in the correct direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on the machine)? As a first step, I would try changing the bobbin so thread comes off in the opposite direction and see what happens.

You may need to clean between the tension discs on top using *unwaxed* dental floss. Any lint in there will cause the tension to remain static no matter how you adjust the knob.

I'm thinking that if the feed dogs move when you run the machine, the problem is most likely to be in the tension. Since you've already cleaned the bobbin area, I'm thinking it is the top tension.