Skratchie

So I picked up my new Janome 8900 this week - I went to QuiltCon last weekend and they had a deal just too good to pass up. I'm just now getting some time to really work with the machine, and I noticed something last night. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if there's a problem here, but the bobbin winding is absolutely horrible. I think a 12 yr old could wind it by hand better! Surely I'm doing something wrong - is there some trick to this I don't know? I'm using the bobbins that came with the machine, and regular quilting thread, if that makes a difference ...

Also, I was surprised by how much noise this machine makes compared to the Brothers I've had in the past. A couple of times, it sounded (and felt) like something in the bobbin area was smacking up against the plastic casing, but I never could see anything. Never having used a Janome before, it might just be that I need to get used to it, but it sort of made me nervous.

Any Janome owners have words of advice & wisdom for a newbie?

nabobw

I do not have that machine have the 7700 and it does not make a lot of noise and no problem witht he bobbins. Go back to where you got it and have them look at it.

Raggiemom

I would take it back to the dealer and have them take a look at it. Hopefully it's just some minor adjustment.

BellaBoo

Many dealers will not do much if you didn't buy the machine from their store. Contact the Janome rep that sold you the machine to find a dealer that will honor the buy. In the meantime I'm sure there are posters here that will help you solve your problem or know what the problem is. Hopefully it is a minor one.

JenDale

Hi Skratchie, Leah Day posted this YouTube video yesterday and she was using her new Janome 8900. You can hear how quiet her machine is and she even mentions that. Here is a link to the video, check it out and decide if you should take it back to the rep to rectify.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYMsmF1pp4k

Good Luck

Skratchie

Thanks for the responses so far. I did buy the machine from a Janome dealer (Sew Vac Direct) and they have been very kind and helpful so far. I'm going to give it the weekend and see how things go, because it could just be the transition from Brother to Janome ... and I will also check out Leah's video.

But the bobbin thing ... it just seems to me that the winding is set up for failure, as the thread jumps over to the metal "hand" that's supposed to guide the thread feed when the bobbin gets close to full. Maybe it's just that I'm not stopping soon enough?

NJ Quilter

It could be that you're winding the bobbin too quickly/slowly? I found with my Viking (sorry - no Janome exp. here) that if I go too fast, it's almost impossible to pull the bobbin off the winding post! Odd but true. So maybe try going slower/faster? Or do you have the bobbin winding threaded properly?

QuiltE

I don't have the 8900 ... so am commenting re my experiences with the 6600.

I think what you are asking re your bobbin winding is that the thread is not wound on tight, and if you push against it with your finger it is mushy? .... if so, check that you have it threaded correctly from the spool thru to the bobbin before you start the wind. One time, I had a mushy ... and turned out I had missed a step for the threading. Just put the mushy bobbin onto the spool holder, and wind it onto another bobbin.

The noise in the bobbin area ... do you have the bobbin holder in place correctly? Again, I'm going with the 6600 experience, and if you take the bobbin holder out, it's very easy to put it back in wrong ... and if operated as such, you can ruin the bobbin holder very easily, and then have chain effects to the rest of the operation of the machine.

I had noticed how much quieter my 6600 was from my two previous Janomes. The 8900 promos have spoken directly about its quiet operation.

Check these things first, then as the others have suggested, be in touch with your dealer. And be sure to take advantage of the free classes to learn more about your machine, no matter how much experience you have as a sewist. Good Luck!

AskaGirl

I don't have this machine, but on my Babylock QP, the bobbin needs to be seated just right for it to work. There is a tiny notch in the bobbin and a tiny post on the winder. None of my other machines (Bernina, etc.) have that.

Aside from that, I'd double check the threading, which I'm sure you've already done, and verify that you have the right bobbin. On my Shark, none of the generics worked quite as well as the two it came with. And I always have to buy genuine for my picky Bernina. GL!

Skratchie

Thanks again for all the replies! I did go back and check the bobbin winding, and of course I'd not done it exactly right. Re-wound two bobbins and it is MUCH better. Thanks for that idea!

I did watch the Leah Day video, and I will need to do some testing later, because I have the clacking of the dual feed foot and the feed dogs that I've been hearing, and that might explain a lot of the noise - I'm sure that dual feed foot makes a fair amount all by itself. Obviously, since she's FMQ she doesn't have any of that noise, so I will attempt to test it (notice I say attempt; I've never done FMQ before, as my old machine was a PC-8500, totally NOT for FMQ!) and see how it sounds. I did also pull out the bobbin case and re-insert it. I hadn't taken it out myself, but it might have been removed by the dealer to clean the machine (it was a classroom machine at QuiltCon, explaining the fab deal) and not properly reseated. That did seem to help some. I did some quick testing and found that the knocking wasn't happening.

I'm sure that as I use the machine more, I will come to love it. Thanks for all the suggestions, and if someone else has anything to add, I'm certainly open to suggestions!