Originally Posted by
JoeJr
I'm curious if the machine stitch length indicator ever matched the number of stitches on this machine. Would this series of machines have been that correctly calibrated even from the factory? I just picked up a 403 recently and now I'll be curious to check when it makes it to the top of the pile. And I was looking at the tensioner on it and I'm not sure I would take it apart, unless there's something in the manual showing how to do it.
I'm not sure if it ever matched. I've never done anything with it except piece quilts and do some straight line quilting. You can vary the stitch length, as I change it regularly, but I never measured it before.
I don't think the tension is a big deal. There are numerous tutorials on the web on how to do it. If I understand it correctly, the tension set up didn't change much from the 15 to the 503 and maybe further.There are just one or two more disks in the 401 than the 201. Just make sure that you take a photo when you take it apart. You lay it out the way it comes off and make sure you put it back the same way (that includes the direction each piece faces). You clean them carefully and put them back down one piece at a time. There was a link to a good tutorial a while back that I looked at. Until I actually do something, I'm uneasy, though.
bkay