Originally Posted by vintagemotif
Originally Posted by jljack
Well, I started my very first quilt on my treadle 66-1 today. It is working so nicely....about 15 minutes into sewing the old belt broke. I put on the new one, and finding it stiff and slips some. I tightened it up, and it is sewing better, but still slips some and seems like the belt is stiff. Am I correct? It needs to soften up? Anyway, I LOVE the feeling of the treadle, and my seam is just wonderful!
Janice,
After a day or so the belt will need to be shorten a bit. That is why I like to use dental floss to sew the belts together.
Before attaching the leather belt, I try to stretch it, but that doesn't always work well. I have found that as your treadle the belts loosen up and need adjusting.
The other day while I was using my Davis NVF, I realized that the belt was slipping and that belt had been on the machine for a couple of months now.
Thanks, Monica. That's what I suspected. I did put it on with the staple connector, but I'm going to change over to the dental floss. Also, the first time I threaded it through I got it twisted, and that caused a real problem. I undid it, cut it a little shorter, rethreaded it, and it's going better, but still slipping. The belt is leather and it's really stiff right now. I'm working on a little quilt, and I'm going to keep going so it's my first "all treadle" quilt. Hopefully the belt will soften up some by the time I'm finished.