Trying to love my 15-91...
 

And not so far. Here's whats happening now...I will be sewing along fine when all of a sudden the top thread goes spinning like crazy. It's as if it were pulled tight then suddenly released, and of course it messes up in the bobbin area then. So, I felt sure it was something in the bobbin area causing it to do that, and may still be, because my bobbin case was rattling around and just generally making a lot of noise. I took the bobbin race all apart and cleaned it real well, making sure also that it was back together properly. Started sewing w/it and it seemed fine, but no it is still doing it. Once it spun so hard thread wrapped around the spool pin several times! I also cleaned the spool pin thinking maybe it was not letting the spool spin freely, no help. I have changed thread, turned the thread over to make sure it was not catching in the little slit on the spool, and cleaned between the tension disks. The only thing I have not done is take the tension assembly apart...I'm scared to:o.

Any ideas? I really want to enjoy using this machine but currently I am very unhappy w/it.

Thanks,
Jp

PS- I did finally get the screw lose that lowers the feed dogs, maybe one day I can free motion w/it!

Jp,

I have had that happen too. What did I do to correct it ......... , can't remember specifically.

I did disassemble and clean the top tension then adjust it. Same with the bobbin and everything there. I checked the needle plate for burrs.

All I can remember doing is starting at the top and working down, cleaning and adjusting as I went.
It's obvious something is binding the the thread then as you've seen releasing it. You just have to find the piece.

Sorry I wasn't much help.

Joe

I have the same thing happening on my 99 plus the thread balls up on the underside of the cloth when that happens. It was suggested to clean the hook thoroughly, that the hook wasn't releasing the thread properly. I haven't done it yet so I'm not sure if that's the answer yet.
Rodney

I've only torn apart one tension. It's not that bad. Just lay things out in order as you go.
There's a very good explanation of rebuilding tensions in here.
http://www.tfsr.org/publications/tec...achine_manual/
Rodney

How is the stitch quality? If it is a balanced stitch, the tension is probably okay but it never hurts to clean it.

I read somewhere that the old girls were designed to work perfectly with the heavier weight of the old wooden spools and the new plastic spools don't always work well.

First, are you using a spool pin felt on it? That will help it feed evenly and not spin. This is what I'm talking about:
http://www.shop.sew-classic.com/Spoo...of-2-8879T.htm
I've seen one person claim that taping a quarter to the top of the thread spool solves the problem. I probably wouldn't want to tape something and introduce something sticky, but you could probably try a zinc washer from a hardware store for the same purpose. Zinc wouldn't rust and the washer would have a hole for the spool pin. (I've used those zinc washers for curtain weights and they're way cheaper than the weights sold in the fabric store, too.)

Another thing that could be happening is that sometimes the thread feeding off the spool will catch on the notch on the end of the spool which secures the thread when it's new. Try turning the spool over and see if that helps--often, just that will solve the issue.

Good luck.

John

The stitches are perfect, tension balanced fine. I will try cleaning the tension assembly then try the "weight" the thread and see what happens.

Thanks, and let you know what happens next,
Jp

Not sure that this will help you but can't hurt. Just read this on another thread here on qb. Take a piece of thread, put several knots in the thread and run that through the tension discs. Could be something stuck in there. The OP on the other thread mentioned that she did that about 5 times and some glob of gook (thread/lint) flew out of the machine and magically all was well again. As I say, can't hurt!

Try a different spool of thread. Some times the thread hangs up on the little notch they put in the spool. The felt is also very helpful. Spend some time - learn to rebuild the tension.

Have you tried another bobbin? I had this happen on one of my Kenmores once. Took the tension apart....nothing wrong there. Took the bobbin case apart...fine, too. Even tried moving the cushion/drive spring in the hook mechanism a little....thought maybe it had slipped a bit & was catching the thread. That didn't help either. I finally tried a different bobbin....problem solved! Threw the bobbin I was using away & it hasn't happened since! Nothing wrong with it that I could see but it was definitely causing the problem....

WOW there is a lot of great tips in this thread. Thank you all for posting. I will be printing this out and keeping it in my FIF :p Fix It File..