J Miller

I think the thread path on the FWs is so short there is no room for the thread to even out and flow.

As for winding bobbins I wind a bit slower and lightly hold my finger on the spool of thread.

Joe

misseva

yes, that's what I have to do Joe. But when I'm piecing I use a cone of thread on a holder behind my FW.

J Miller

When I'm piecing I just sew fairly slow. Even on this FW the cross wound C&C machine quilting thread works fine at slow speeds.
Now that I am just about finished re-timing it, we'll see how it works at it's max speed.

Zooom Zoooom

OH, yeah, speaking of the cone thread holders, the local JoAnn Fabrics has them with a cast iron base now. MUCH, MUCH better than the plastic bottomed ones.


Joe

misseva

I have a plastic thread holder that I attached to a block of 1x4 and it's quite stable now. It does have holes in the base that I figured were for screwing it to something heavy.

J Miller

We also have two plastic bottomed ones that are a pain in keester to use. They want to topple over. I am going to mount them to a 1x4 like you did and then I'll use a C-clamp to mount them to the machine table or cabinet.

I just haven't gotten to that yet as I plan to sand and stain the mounting boards and put a felt bottom on them.

Joe

amcatanzaro

I have a cone thread holder from Superior Threads. It's a heavier weight plastic and very stable.

misseva

I wonder if you couldn't turn the plastic holder upside down and fill it with plaster like the kids use in school to make their hand prints.

J Miller

Candace,

You were right. Got the little FW timed and the loopy stitches went away everywhere but 30 SPI. Still had a few there.

I think it's as good as I can get it now. :-)

Joe

ArchaicArcane

I have a similar one made by AlphaSew. OK, I have 2 of them. One lives in the bag I travel with the FW with, and the other is intended to mount on my Longarm for stackwound thread. I like tha you can orient it in a sitting or standing position as well.

While you could, by the time you bought that plaster and cleaned up the mess from the work, I think it would have been as cheap or cheaper to buy the cast base one. I always meant to just screw the base to a desk, but I change desks too often.

You mentioned in email or in a previous post (yes, I'm that far behind on everything! Sorry) that the needlebar timing lines were hidden by the bushing. That sort of indicates that the NB was pushed up a tiny bit, perhaps when all the rest of the original damage happened. If you drop the needlebar a tiny bit to make the line sit where it should, you may even get rid of that last tiny bit of skippage. At higher speed, there's a chance the loop is just not there long enough for the 30spi setting. Assuming of course that the line is in the right place on the NB, and lowering it doesn't cause a collision with any part of the hook.

I'm guessing that you've already sent the machine back, but for future knowledge.

J Miller

Tammi,

When I got the needle bar cleaned, and put a magnifying hood on so I could see things, I found the timing marks were as the service manual said they were supposed to be. So I was off on that part.

I've also done some other adjusting that has helped the tensions so I'm pretty sure we're good to go on this little FW.

Nope, still here. The owner will be up in this area soon and will pick it up then.

Joe